Divided in the dark
by Hisomi
Summary: The turtles find themselves trapped in the dark with no way out. They have to piece together what they know to help them escape before it's too late.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

**My second fanfic ever. I'm a bit more into this one then the teen titans story sort of ditched... Probably because I've seen every TMNT episode known to man, and some parts of teen titans are still a mystery to me…Anyways…**

"Leo! Leo!"

Leonardo was aware he was being called, but he couldn't bring himself to open his eyes.

"Leonardo! Wake up!"

Leo could hear urgency in the gruff voice. He slowly lifted his hand in a small wave to signify he was awake. "M'okay…" he muttered almost too quietly to hear.

He then heard a loud sigh of relief. "Boy am I glad you're okay, bro…" The speaker cleared his throat. "Are you hurt?"

Leonardo could detect a slight accent. "Raph?" Leo asked groggily. "Is that you?" He was slowly but surely regaining consciousness. He was aware he was lying down. On hard, cold, damp stone_._ He slowly lifted his head and opened one eye. He couldn't see anything. He opened the other one. Still nothing. "Raph?" He asked again weakly, rising panic taking over his voice. "Raphael, where are you? Raph!" Now fully conscious, he scrambled to sit up, and then wished he hadn't. He ached from head to toe, as is his body was just one, giant purple bruise. A surge of pain ran up his spine, but he ignored it as he turned his head back and forth looking for his brother.

"I'm right here, Leo!" Raphael answered form a distance. "Can you see me? Cause, I can't see you. Is it just me? Or-"

Relief washed over Leonardo after hearing his brothers' voice once again. "No Raph, I can't see anything either. I guess it's just dark." He said. "Where are we? How did we get here? Are Michelangelo and Donatello here too?" Leonardo was very confused. He stiffly shuffled back an inch, and found a cold wall to lean on. His head was swimming.

"Okay, bonehead, I'll dumb it down for ya." Raphael snapped. He was trying to hide his own confusion. "I woke up in here about 20 minutes ago, and I don't know where we are, because I can't see. And I don't know if our bros are here, because I can't see." He paused for a moment and furrowed his brow. "I can't remember exactly how we got here, but I guess we musta been fightin'."

"We were? I don't remember much up until now…hey how do you know we were fighting?" Leonardo's eyes narrowed. "Are you hurt?"

"Well…" Raphael began and then stopped.

"Are you hurt?" Leonardo snapped, raising his voice. He needed to know. He always felt responsible for his brothers' safety, being the eldest brother.

"No, Leo! I'm okay! It's just…" again he stopped. Leonardo was about to ask again, when he heard something. He closed his eyes and listened. It sounded like two things being rubbed together.

His eyes opened, and he still saw nothing, but he opened them wider as he strained to find his younger brother. "Raph, what are you doing?" he asked suspiciously.

"Nothin'…I…"

"Raphael, we're trapped who-knows-where, with who-knows-who, who-knows-how. The only way we can possibly figure this out, is by helping each other. You might as well tell me. I can help."

From a distance, Raphael sighed. "I don't exactly rememba' fightin', but we must've cuz…I can't feel my feet, bro. I think I mighta broken em." He let out a loud, shaky breath he hadn't realized he had been holding in. "And they hurt like shell! That, and they're really itchy."

"Where are you?" Leo asked, suddenly feelingly terribly worried and uneasy. _This can't be good._

"Follow my voice." Came Raphael's reply.

Hesitantly, Leonardo pushed himself off the wall he'd been leaning on, and began to slowly crawl forwards. Pain surged through what felt like every bone is his body, with every movement, but he figured it was better than getting up and walking.

"I can hear you…I think you're coming up beside me."

Leonardo cautiously crawled forward, not wanting to hit his brother by mistake. Instead, his head suddenly collided with a wall. He hissed.

"You okay, bro?" Two cold, three-fingered hands helped Leonardo up again and helped him sit beside Raphael who had also been leaning on a wall.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Put one of your feet up on my lap." Raphael rolled his eyes, but did as he was told. With the help of Leonardo, he managed to get his right foot propped up on his brother. Leonardo gently placed his hand on it. Raphael flinched and drew back a little. Leonardo removed his hand. "Raph?"

"I'm fine. Get this over with, nurse-boy." Pain shot through his foot and up to his knees with every of Leo's movements. His green skin burned and felt as though it would come right off if rubbed too hard, but Raphael sat quietly, biting his lip to help keep from crying out.

Leonardo carefully felt around his brother's foot. It was bumpy with hives, and tender and damp. He felt his heel. It was in an awkward position on his lap, probably twisted. But it didn't feel broken. He removed his hand and then felt around for Raphael's toes. He placed his hand on the first one.

"Leo...Leo…Gaaaahhh! Quit it Leo, you're killin' me!" Raphael roared.

Leo jumped a little. "I-I'm sorry, Raphael. I didn't mean to hurt you." Leonardo drew backs his hands as Raphael cradled his foot. "I-I don't think your feet are broken." He stammered awkwardly.

"They aren't?"

"No, but…I think your toes are…and your ankles might be…."

"Oh…" Raphael's face fell.

"Stay off of them, okay? Don't move much, and don't try to stand, alright?"

"I'll be fine, Leo. It's not too bad." Raphael growled, trying to salvage his tough-guy image. "Whadda bout you? You hurt at all?"

"I'm fine." Leonardo assured him. That was a lie. He felt like there were tiny men hacking at his bones with sledge hammers, but he wasn't about to tell his brother that. He used the wall to help himself stand. "I'm going to try and figure out where we are." He said quietly. He slowly inched his way around the room, keeping his hand on the wall. He kept a silent count as he went.

_Three steps, corner. Ten steps, corner. _"Raph! Stop scratching!" _Six steps, corner. Ten steps corner. So six steps…_

"Watch it!"

"_Whoops. Three steps Raph."_

"What'd you discover, captain coordinated?" Raphael asked sarcastically, still holding his feet.

Leonardo sat down slowly. "Small room. Roughly ten feet by six feet. No windows, and…just us."

**Well, what'd you think? A lot of dialogue, I know, but I think I did okay. Hopefully future chapters will be longer. Any comments appreciated!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note:**

**The second chapter is finally here! It took forever, I know, because I'm a huge procrastinator. But I finally made myself do it for all of my (non-existent) fans! I think this turned out okay, but it was weird under the circumstance…anyways… Hope you like it!**

**Oh and, this is like a jump from chapter one, and it's gonna continue to jump around. Just so you know.**

Ever since he was little, Michelangelo had always been afraid of the dark. Everybody had their thing. Leonardo hated heights, Raphael hated bugs, Donatello seemed to be afraid of failure, and he was uneasy in the dark. Maybe it was the way the shadows bump off objects and make them look ten times bigger. Maybe it was the eerie silence of the night that creates uneasiness, as if there is someone waiting to jump out at you around every corner. Or maybe it was the moment of confusion when you can't tell whether or not your eyes are open. Whatever the reason, Michelangelo hated the dark, and he still felt the same surge of nervousness, opening his eyes to darkness, as he did when he was younger.

The first time he opened his eyes, he shut them again, thinking he had woken upon the couch late at night, as per usual. He yawned silently, and rolled over on to his side. A sudden, sharp pain in his shoulder made him unwillingly cry out, and he flipped back again.

Now somewhat awake, the realization that he was not at home began to sink in. The floor he was on felt cold and hard, and there was not a sound to be heard. Not daring to open his eyes yet, Michelangelo lay on his plastron, listening for a sound. His heart pounded in his ears, but that was it. Wherever he was, he was alone. He let out all of his breath at once, and suddenly began shaking. He was freezing.

Eyes still clamped shut, Michelangelo used his right arm to prop himself up on a wall right behind him. He breathed slowly, and prepared himself for anything. He slowly opened his eyes. Nothing. He blinked hard, and then opened them again. Wider this time. His head darted back and forth, as panic overtook him.

Where was he? Why was it dark? How long had he been out? Where were his brothers? How did he get here? As questions swam through his head, Michelangelo began shaking again. His eyes continued to dart back and forth as he searched for something, anything, to help him figure something out. A sudden surge of pain washed over him as his heartbeat sped up, as well as his breathing. His head swam faster, and he began to question if he was okay. Michelangelo gulped loudly and drew in a shaky breath, trying to calm himself.

_Okay. What would Donny say? Stay calm, and figure out your situation before you freak out. Poetic? No. Logical? Yes. Okay, Mikester, think. _

He leaned his head back against the wall, and tried to clear his head, but was distracted by the fact that his left shoulder hurt, bad. He ran his fingers over it, and then quickly drew them back. It didn't feel right. It felt…bent out of shape or something. Michelangelo's heartbeat picked up once again. What happened? What was wrong? He tried to stretch his arm out, but his shoulder. suddenly throbbed, and he yelped. He quickly shook the questions from his head, and placed one hand on his chest, forcing himself to stay calm.

_I'm okay. I'll be fine. I'm Mikey. The positive one. The battle Nexus Champion! I've been worse._

He frowned and bit his lip at his own thoughts. In the back of his mind, he knew he was probably lying to himself, but his heartbeat slowed down again nonetheless. He sat still, scarcely breathing, trying to ignore the pain in his shoulder. He figured he was fine everywhere else, until another sharp pain in his left upper arm told him otherwise. He brought his hand up to it, and grimaced with disgust when he discovered it wet with blood. He drew back his hand, not interested in how long the gash traveled.

Michelangelo sighed. The darkness was getting to him, so he decided to talk to himself to break the eerie silence.

"Bros, where are you?" He asked nobody. He paused. "Gee, that was dumb. Not like they can hear me. Wait… Any bros in here?" He frowned when his voice echoed around the room. "Guess not... Okay, well if any bros decide to come get me, I'll be here." Michelangelo sighed again. This wasn't working.

_It's always me. _He thought to himself. _I always do something dumb, and I always end up getting kidnapped. It must be a thing with bad dudes. Go for the cute one. Cuteness is a curse, I swear… As soon as I remember what happened, whoever did whatever they did, is gonna pay. _

Michelangelo stiffened at how stupid that sounded., even in his head. It was true, though. He didn't even remember how he got wherever he was. Questions sprang back to his head once again.

_What if my bros are never coming? What if they don't know I'm gone? What if they don't care? …No. That was dumb. Of course they would care. If they were capable… Oh, shell. What if they're like, hurt or something? Or worse? What if-_

He stopped, not wanting to finish his own thought. But the more he tried not to think about that possibility, the more he did. He squeezed his eyes shut, and tried to clear his head again. He had to get out of here. He traced one hand over his shoulder again. He could probably get out, but he'd have to be very careful.

_If only my bros were here. They'd know exactly what to do. I'd be all freakin' out, Raph would smack me one on the head, Donny would tell us both to calm down, and Leo would come up with a butt-kickin' plan._

One lone tear streaked down Michelangelo's face. He hated feeling so helpless. He was a ninja. Best of the best! Or, so he liked to think. He wrapped his arms around his knees. Pain wracked his body. His shoulder felt like it was going to pop out with every passing second. And when he stretched out his arms, he was sure the broken skin ripped even further. And on top of that, his head began to throb. At this point, allowing himself to pass out felt like a better option than trying to escape. Still instead, he sat shaking, as unstoppable pain surged through him.

_You're okay. You're okay. You're okay. I'm okay. I'm okay. I'm okay…_

"SHELL!" Michelangelo suddenly shrieked. "OWOWOWOWOW! Why does it-" He stopped. His blood ran warm and then cold. He straightened out his legs, and turned his head ever so slowly to the left. He could've sworn he heard a moan. "H-hello?" 

**So, yeah. That was chapter two. Mikey's my favourite, so that let's me get away with some meanness, no? Anyways, I am personally begging you. If you are physically reading this right now, PLEASE REVIEW! Any comments appreciated. I want feedback! …Thank-you.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

**Thank-you so so so so so so so much for everybody who reviewed my story. Especially to those who told me what they liked about it the most. You guys complete my life. Thank-you, again.**

**Okay about the story… A wise author once said: "You use way too many commas, man." Although I am not a man. I re-read my previous chapters, and realized that she was totally right. I have tried to be more conscious of that in this chapter, and I hope it turned out much better.**

**FYI: This chapter is continuing from chapter one, with Leo and Raph**

Raphael shut his eyes as he slowly took in the news. "Just us? It's just…..us?"

Leonardo sat down beside his younger brother and placed one hand on his shoulder. "Yeah. It's okay, though. We'll just-"

"Okay?" Raphael clenched his fists as sudden anger began to boil within him. "It's okay?" He shook Leonardo's hand off of his shoulder. "No, Leo! It ain't okay! You're finally wrong. I don't think we've ever been less okay! I happen ta have no clue where we are! An' as far as I know, neither do you! An' now you're tellin' me our bros are missing?" He shifted his weight to face Leo, and recreated the pain that had recently left his legs. "An' we can't do nothin' about it this time Leo! Nothin'! There ain't no windows in this freakin' hole! An' even if there were, it wouldn't matter, because I can't even see you, Leo…and…" He lowered his voice, and took a breath, tired after yelling so much. "Leo…" He turned his head to stare blindly at where he figured his brother was sitting. "Leo…you're only s'posed to say it's okay when it actually is." He pulled his partially paralyzed knees up to his plastron and rested his head on them.

Leonardo sat stunned in the corner he had subconsciously backed into. Rage. Rage was the only emotion that his younger brother ever let people see. It was the emotion that was easiest for Raphael to "let out". So when he felt anything else; sadness, worry, pain, fear, he would hide it with anger instead. Leonardo and his brothers were used to that. They understood that anger sometimes overtook him. But this…this was different. The way his voice had cracked told Leonardo that his brother was scared. Terrified over what might become of him and his brothers. He had tried to mask it with rage, but had failed.

Leonardo snapped back to attention as he heard his brother cough. He shut his mouth which he had just realized had been hanging open. He wasn't used to dealing with fear. Especially in this brother. He slowly shuffled towards Raphael and placed his hand back on his shoulder.

"All right, Raph. It's not okay. I'm worried too. I don't remember anything either and I don't know what we're supposed to do next." He gave his brother's shoulder a squeeze. "But you're hurt right now, and I'm not in the best shape either."

Raphael's head shot up. "You're not?"

"Never mind, my point is that we are ninja. Constantly at the mercy of our surroundings. And right now we don't know where we are or why and we are in a room with nothing in it. Our only option right now is to wait and-"

"Wait?"

"Yes, we-"

"Wait for what, Leo? Silver Sentry? A convenient portal? The powers that be?" Raphael turned towards his brother again.

"Raph…"

"Leo! Ya don't get it, do you? We're stuck! Lost! Left for dead! And our brothers might be too! Shell, they're probably already dead by now!"

"RAPHAEL!"

"Will ya shaddup for five seconds, Leo? Our brothers are gone and we can't do nothin' about it. An' you might not care but I DO!" He finished at the top of his lungs.

Leonardo's jaw dropped for the second time. This time because of anger. He let go of his brother's shoulder and shoved him away as he backed up once again. Raphael just grunted and turned to face the wall.

"I cannot believe you sometimes, Raphael! Not once did I say I didn't care! I was trying to help you! Which I now realize was a stupid idea because of how stubborn you always are! I was only trying to-"

"To be the fearless, level-headed leader?" Raphael growled.

"I didn't choose to be the leader! Leonardo shot back. "It's a harder job than your thick skull could ever imagine!" He used the wall to help himself stand, and then staggered to the opposite side of the room. He threw himself down on the floor, crossed his legs, and put his head in his hands. "I care more about my family than you ever have."

From across the room, Raphael grunted something he didn't care to listen to.

**This chapter is soooo short! I hadn't updated in a while, so I felt like I should. And I had this scene and another one in mind, but I didn't really feel like they should be combined. I will make up for the shortness of this chapter by updating as soon as physically possible. Pleeeeeeeeeeease Review! My imagination strives on feedback. Thanks! **

**Oh, and one more thing. In the second chapter, I say that everyone has something they hate/fear. I listed off Leo's hate of heights, Raph's hate of bugs, and Mike's hate of the dark….I forgot Donny, and I wanna fix it. Does anyone know what Donatello hates/fears? **


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**

**Okay, so maybe I didn't update as soon as physically possible, but I wanted this chapter to be long to make up for the short ones. **

**Thank-you so much to "multicoloredmango" "sait4soreyes" and "Alycat3" for suggestions about what Donatello fears. They really helped, and I will update chapter two A.S.A.P. Also, a big thanks to "toolazytosignin" and "Puldoh" and everyone else who gave encouraging reviews, for the great feedback. You guys are the reason I keep writing. : ) **

**(In case you haven't figured out the pattern by now, this is a continuation of Michelangelo's part from chapter 2)**

Michelangelo froze. "H-hello?" he repeated. No response. "Shell. Okay, Mikey. Whatever you do, don't wake 'em." He sat stiffly, barely breathing. His heart was racing. He strained his ears to hear whoever was beside him. They were breathing, and sounded quite healthy, actually. Whatever had happened to him couldn't have happened to this guy. Either way, Michelangelo had no intention of waking them. He sat without moving for what must have been an hour, before deciding that he was being stupid.

He finally let loose the tension in his shoulders and leaned back against the wall. "Who cares about him…or her? I need to get out of here." He clasped his hands together. "Okay, thinking time. What are my options here, Mike?" He smirked. Raphael thought it was stupid when he talked to himself, which is why he did it so often. It was so fun getting him peeved. Michelangelo shook his head. "Focus." He told himself. He brought his right hand to the wall. It was made of stone. "Darn. Can't break stone with nunchucks. Wait…NUNCHUCKS!" He frantically brought his hand to his waist, and then to the floor. "My chucks are gone! Why didn't I notice this before?" His left shoulder throbbed suddenly and he stopped his frantic search to settle for yelling instead. "Chucks! Chucks, where are you?" He yelled. Then his eyes widened and he smacked his forehead with one hand. "And now I'm talking to my chucks." He moaned. Beside him, his fellow captive stirred. "Whoops, sorry." He whispered before shuffling away a few feet.

"Okay, concentrate!" he told himself, a bit quieter this time. "There's probably just like, a locked door or something that I can't see. Wait…a locked door? I can't pick locks! Donny and Raph can pick locks!" He imagined Raphael plunging a sai into a lock and having it open with a few twists. How did he do that? And then there was Donatello, who once picked a lock with an earring he found on the ground. "D'awwww…why can't I be the smart one?" Michelangelo was the jokester. The comic relief. The one who liked to bug people for fun. And as awesome as that was, it wasn't going to help him right now. He needed a brother.

"Man. I need a bro." he echoed his thoughts as if voicing them would help. "Or maybe a pizza. I'm starving." He was trying to navigate the topic away from his missing relatives. "Yeah, yeah. A gigundo pizza. With onions and pepperoni and a deep dish crust." He placed his right hand on his stomach and listened to it groan. He hadn't realized how hungry he was until now. "Ssshh…ssshh. Down boy." He said to his stomach. "I'll find food as soon as I can…" His mystery company stirred again. "Whoops…sorry." Michelangelo whispered once again as he shuffled away a few more feet.

"Okay. One more time. I gotta think of a way to get out of this place!" He drummed three fingers on the stone floor. "If only I could drink that stuff…and then morph into one of those guys…then I could break outta here. What was that game called again?" He twirled his bandana tails with one finger. "That's it! Rampage Total Destruction!" He smiled to himself. "That was a fun game. I bet I would've unlocked the next character if Raph hadn't "accidentally" poured lemonade on my game system." The stranger stirred again.

"SORRY!" Blindly, the orange-clad turtle shuffled away until he ran into a wall. "Darn it Michelangelo, can't you concentrate for one stupid second?" He yelled at himself. Suddenly, his shoulder spiked up again, and his gash began dripping. "Ugh." He clasped his right hand to it to try and stop it from bleeding. He had closed his eyes to try and forget the pain, when he remembered something Leonardo had said years ago. Well, not the entire thing, but he remembered something about focusing. Leonardo was so good at that. Him, not so much. So Leo always tried to help him out.

"Let go of all your thoughts, Michelangelo," He had said in his serious tone. His brothers only used his unusually long, full name when they were serious. "Focus on just one thing. Let go of all emotion except strong determination."

"Yup. Sure sounds Leo-esque." Michelangelo choked out through pain-induced clenched teeth, ending the memory. "Okay. I'll give it a try. What have I got to lose?" He winced at the thought of all of the things he had to lose. "Okay, bad wording, but whatever." He closed his eyes, and concentrated on the sound of his own breathing. In. Out. In. Out. Gradually, the pain slowly washed out of him. In. Out. In… Michelangelo opened his blind eyes and let out his breath. "Haaaaah….Okay, I'm good. Thanks, Leo."

Now that his mind was clear, Michelangelo knew what he had to do next. Scope the place out. He flipped onto his plastron and used his good arm to pull himself onto his feet. His head suddenly began spinning, and he leaned heavily against the wall. His knees left arm dangled uselessly at his side. His meditation session had stopped working. With or without good breathing, it hurt. Bad. "Owwww. Oh, come on. What was that other thing Leo said?" He paused to recall the memory.

**TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT**

Master Splinter had been trying to increase his sons' flexibility. "To a ninja, nearly nothing is as important." He had told them. That day, he had them go through their usual daily katas in the dojo, but when they were finished, he kept hem a little while longer. "My sons, you must build up your flexibility. Flexibility in your spine is most important. It enables easier jumps and will also increase your speed."

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Great. Just what we need. Ta build speed in Mikey." Michelangelo had just grinned at that remark. He was the fastest of the four, and they all knew it. And he loved how it annoyed Raphael.

"Quiet, Raphael." Leonardo snapped. "Continue, Master."

Splinter shot all four of his sons a look that said "smarten up" and then continued. "As I was saying…I want the four of you to learn to do a backbend."

"A backbend?" Donatello repeated, confused. "What's a-" He began, but cut himself off when he realized his Sensei was about to demonstrate.

Splinter put his walking stick gently on the floor, and loosened his robe. As his sons stared, he moved his feet shoulder width apart, bent his knees and raised both hands in the air. Then he tilted his head back, and leaned backwards, bending his back until his hands touched the floor.

"That…looks painful." Michelangelo grimaced as his Sensei pulled himself back up.

"It sometimes is, if not done with care. " Splinter said. "But if mastered, this move will greatly increase your overall flexibility. You may use a wall to help you at first, but I wish to soon see it done without support. I will be back in one hour to see how you have progressed." And with that, he was gone.

The brothers stood silently for a minute, until Leonardo broke the silence. He clapped his hands together. "All right. If that's what Splinter wants, that's what he'll get." He took off the strap that held his katanas, and tossed it beside Splinter's stick. Then he went to a wall, and began trying to lean back just far enough to not hit his head against the wall.

"Aww…this is stupid." Raphael said to his two younger brothers who had yet to move.

"I'm with Raphie." Said Michelangelo, his eyes never leaving Leonardo who had fallen flat on his shell more then once. "That looks like it hurts."

Donatello laughed. "It won't hurt if you do it right, Mikey. You see, when the spine is-"

"Hey guys! I think I've got it!" Leo suddenly shouted. His brothers watched as he walked his hands down the wall into a perfect backbend.

"Does that hurt, Leo?" Michelangelo wanted to know.

"Not really." The eldest answered, standing up. "But let's see if I can do it without the wall. Spot me, Raph." He walked to the center of the room, and proceeded to do a flawless backbend just as his Sensei had done, while Raphael's hands were on his shell incase he fell.

"Great, Leo!" Donatello cheered. He threw his bo into the growing "weapons pile" and ran to the nearest wall. "My turn!" He began to practice with the wall, while Leonardo continued to practice on his own. That left Raphael and Michelangelo watching.

"Come on you guys! We have 30 minutes left!" Leonardo reminded them.

"Aw, let's jus' get this over with." Raphael growled. "Spot me, Mikey." Michelangelo held his hands under his brother's shell while Raphael dropped into a flawless backbend without practicing once.

"Nice one, bro!" Cried Don, who had just done one without a wall at about the same time. "You're up, Mikey!"

"I dunno, dude. I still think I'll hurt myself."

"You'll be fine, Mikey. Come on! You only have 10 minutes left!" Leo said.

Michelangelo knew he couldn't get out of it, so he tried it on the wall, walking his hands down it as slowly as possible.

"Kay, great. But now ya have ta try it on your own." Raphael said. "C'mon, I'll spot you."

Hesitantly, Michelangelo moved to the center of the room. Nobody said a word as they watched him widen his stance and lean back ever so slowly. Raphael eventually got tired of holding out his hands, and just watched as his brother's hands neared the floor. Closer….closer… Suddenly, Michelangelo's right hand slipped and he immediately fell backwards, arms flailing, and his head hit the floor with an enormously loud knock.

Donatello yelped and his hands flew to his mouth. Leonardo was at his brother's side in 5 seconds. Raphael just roared with laughter. "You okay, Michelangelo?" Leonardo asked.

"Ooooh…..I think so." Michelangelo groaned. Leonardo helped him to sit up, and then Michelangelo's vision became peppered with black dots. "Wait…I don't think so." Michelangelo gripped his head with both hands until it stopped. "Okay, I'm good. It hurts like shell though." He felt the back of his head and found an enormous bump.

After realizing that his younger brother was okay, Donatello glared at Raphael. "Nice spotting, Raph!" Raphael didn't respond. He was laughing too hard.

"Ow, Leo. It hurts." Michelangelo whined. Leonardo put a hand on his shoulder.

"Physical pain only happens if your mind allows it to. Think about something else, Michelangelo."

And so he did, until his Sensei returned.

**TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT**

"I remember now!" Michelangelo cheered. "Leo said pain only comes if you let it! Sort of…" He closed his eyes, and focused on his breathing once more, until his arm went numb. He continued to slowly inch his way around the room and used his right arm to fell for any openings in the wall, while still focusing on breathing. He blocked everything else out until all he could feel was his heartbeat pounding in his ears. He continued his search all the way around the room, which he now knew was very small, carefully avoiding the "unconscious one" on his way back to his original spot.

He slid down the wall and sighed as he opened his blind eyes. Not a crack. There was no way out. Or no way that he could find from the floor, anyway. His pounding heart faded from his ears as his eyes began to droop. "Now what?" he asked himself. He leaned back on the wall, and was about to drift off into a sleep caused by exhaustion when something brought him back to his senses. The guy beside him had rolled over and his hand lashed out and slapped Michelangelo's knee. Michelangelo screamed at the top of his lungs.

"Get-it-off get-it-off get-it-off!" He yelled as he smacked the hand off his leg. "Ew, ew, eww…" He whispered, eyes screwed shut. Suddenly he realized something. "Wait a sec…" He held his breath and reached down towards the hand. He lifted it as gently as physically possible, and then dropped it, shocked. His heart skipped a beat. Three fingers. It was a turtle.

**Suspenseful? …Not really. But it would be for Mikey. XD Please review. Negative or positive feedback both work for me. Tell me your thoughts on my story so far!**


	5. Chapter 5

**Author's Note:**

**I realize this is extremely late. Please don't sue me…**

**I discovered that lately nothing has happened in this story, so low and behold, something happens in this part. It's back to Leo and Raph again, and the next chapter might be too…I'm not sure yet…**

**Okay, one last thing? Can you guys please please please review? If you hate it, tell me. If you love it, tell me. If you think the characters aren't in character at all, tell me. If you had a favourite line/part in any of the chapters so far, tell me. If you think something that just happened was really dumb, tell me. I just want to know what you guys are thinking while reading my story. It'll help me improve as a writer.**

**Thanks, Hisomi.**

Raphael ran down a long, narrow corridor, as fast as he could. He stopped for one moment to wipe the sweat from his forehead, but then continued to run. He felt his legs would give out, but he was determined not to stop. He just had to find them.

_"Raphael! C'mere!"_ a voice echoed from inside of him.

"Mikey?" His pace slowing only slightly, Raphael looked around.

_"Did you forget about us, Raphael?" _another voice questioned.

"Donny? Where-" Raphael fell forwards as he tripped on a large chunk of concrete that had fallen off of the decaying walls of the corridor. He flew forwards and landed on all fours. Unshaken, Raphael leapt to his feet. "Where are you guys? What's going on?" he demanded, eyes darting in all directions.

_"Come find us, Raphael!" _Michelangelo's disembodied voice teased, sounding evilly smug.

_"Before it's too late!" _ Donatello's voice added.

"Don? Mike? I'll come find ya, sure. You jus' gotta tell me where you are."

_"That wouldn't be much fun!"_ Michelangelo chanted, followed by a shrill cackle that sounded like it shouldn't have come from his mouth. _"Just try looking real hard."_

Raphael turned a full circle. He peered down the hall in front of him, but there seemed to be no end to it. The walls just faded in the distance. "Um, guys? There's no way out…" When he got no response, Raphael just shrugged and took off running down the hall again, but after about 5 minutes, he was completely tired out, and hadn't gained an inch. The hallway just kept coming! Panting, Raphael closed his eyes and leaned over with his hands on his knees. When he opened them the hallway's concrete walls were lined with doors, hundreds of metal doors without a centimetre between them. They all looked the same. Black with a green skull painted in the very middle.

"What?" Raphael gaped, rapidly becoming extremely confused. His voice echoed down the hall. "Hey…Mike? Don?" Uneasy, Raphael reached down for a sai, and found they weren't there. He waited for his brothers to say something, but having no other choice, he pushed open the door closest to him and stepped in, leaving a trail of dusty, two toed footprints behind.

On the inside of the door was a small room with walls lined with metal. There was a door on each wall. They were identical to the ones in the hallway. Aside from that, the room was empty. Raphael growled. "A maze. Great." He used his teeth to rip a piece of his mask off and he wedged it under the door he had entered through.

He took a step forwards. "Don? Mike? Are ya in here?"

"Nope!" Not there!" His youngest brother called. This time the voice wasn't in his head. It seemed to be coming from the door on his left. Raphael ran to it and threw it open.

"No…" he breathed. The room was identical to the one he had just left! He took a step forward, but spun around when he heard a click from behind him. The door had closed. He shook the handle, but it was locked. Raphael took a step backwards. "Guys?"

"In here! Quick!" Donatello's voice was coming from the right. The red-clad turtle pushed it open a crack. It was again the same room.

He crossed his arms. "Nope. No way. I'm staying right here. There's no way I'm gonna-" His bandana tails blew into his face as a gust of wind blew from behind him. He closed the door he had been looking through, and turned around. The other three doors were gone. "What? This place is-"

"Hurry!" His younger brothers yelled from behind him. Raphael stood, stunned for one moment before hesitantly going through the one remaining door.

"I'm comin'!" He scanned the room. "Which way now?"

"Left!" He opened the door on his left.

"Which way now?"

"Left again! Hurry! Now straight ahead!"

"Left!"

"Right!"

"Forwards!"

"This way!"

"Over here!"

"Left!"

"Straight!"

The directions ceased when Raphael suddenly stopped running. He was panting and leaning on his knees. He wiped at the truckload of sweat from his forehead, only to smear dirt from his hands all over his face. "D-don't stop, Raphael! You're almost there!"

"W-where's…there?" Raphael choked out between breaths. He took another minute to catch his breath, but soon straightened. He was about to yell for more directions, when something caught his eye from across the room. He walked over to the door opposite the one he had just entered, and pulled something out from under it. A piece of red cloth. From his bandana. Raphael stared. "I…this…I'm back to where I started" He made a fist. "Guys! I'm back to where I freakin'-" he jumped four feet in the air when a blood-curdling scream cut him off. He would recognize it anywhere. "DONNY!" he yelled. Suddenly his vision became red. He ran to the other side of the room, and then turned around and charged at the door at top speed, one shoulder in front of the other.

He yelped as his shoulder slammed into the door, but he broke clean through, nonetheless. He was back in the hallway. Grabbing his right shoulder, he ran down the hallway, head darting left and right. "DONATELLO! WHERE THE SHELL-" he skidded to a stop as he passed a door that was slightly different than the others. Instead of a green skull, this one was two colours. Purple and orange. Raphael pushed it open and was relieved to see only one door on the wall opposite him. He was reaching for the handle, when another scream made him grimace. Mikey. Heart racing, he ripped open the door.

The room he was in was black as pitch but for the light streaming in from the door. Raphael's eyes scanned the darkness.

Two figures were huddled in one corner, shaking slightly. Raphael took one step forwards. "Guys?" He took another step. "That you?" He cautiously walked over, and reached down to see if they were okay. He reached one hand down towards them, when they suddenly whipped around and jumped to their feet. Raphael gaped. It was Don and Mike but….different. They were grey, not green, and covered in red scars and purple bruises. Where their fingers were supposed to be, were long pointed claws instead. And their eyes they…..they weren't there! Just masks with holes where they were supposed to be! Both were smiling like idiots. Raphael took a step back. His brothers took a step forwards.

Donatello crossed his arms in a mock scold. "Where were you Raphael?" he asked, insane smile never fading.

"You didn't come…" Michelangelo whispered.

Raphael took several steps back. "No. I…it wasn't my fault. I-I tried"

"Not hard enough. You killed us, Raphie."

"W-what? No! You're not-"

Michelangelo extended one hand towards Raphael. "You left us to die. Now it's your turn."

Raphael backed up, but Michelangelo grabbed on to his shoulder. "No. Mikey. Don. Guys. I….NOOOOOOOOOOO!" Raphael's screams echoed down the hallway.

**TMNT****-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT-TMNT**

"No! I…not my fault…nngh."

"Raph?" Leonardo looked over his shoulder. "Are you okay over there?"

"No! You're….n-no…."

"Raph?" Leonardo turned fully around and peered through the darkness at his brother. "What are you doing?"

"Mikey…D-don…"

A nightmare! He fell asleep and was dreaming! As much as he hated to help his hot headed brother, he crawled over to his stirring brother. He shook him gently. "Raph?" No response. "Raph!" he shook him harder. "Wake up!"

Suddenly Raphael's eyes flew open and he bolted upright, pushing Leonardo back. He was breathing heavily. "Raph…it's okay. It was just a-"

Raphael leapt to his feet, and then swayed at the pain he hadn't remembered would come.

"Raph! What the shell are you doing? Sit down!" Leonardo was on his feet as well, trying to push his brother back down. Raphael shoved him away.

"Leo! We have to get out of here!" He yelled, eyes wide as if he just thought of the idea. Leo wondered if he was actually awake. "We have to get out!" he repeated. He ran forwards until he smacked into a wall. His eyes rolled back for a second.

"Raphael! Stop!" Leonardo ran to his brother who had begun trying to punch his way through the wall. A drop of something warm landed on Leo's face. He yelled again, but Raphael continued to pointlessly punch at the stone, grunting with every hit. "I gotta get out of here!" He repeated louder and louder as if in a trance.

Leonardo, having no other choice, jumped towards Raphael, tackling him to the ground. Raphael struggled, but Leonardo had him pinned well, and he gave in.

"Listen Raph! I want to get out of here too, but destroying you hands won't get us anywhere!" Leonardo was yelling right in Raphael's face. "What were you thinking? Your feet are broken! You probably just made them worse!"

Raphael stopped struggling, as he seemed to snap back to complete consciousness. "I'm…sorry Leo. I don't know what jus' happened…don't know what I was thinkin'…I…" He was still gasping for breath.

Leonardo sat back a bit. "Were you…did you…have a dream Raph? Like…a nightmare? Is that why you…panicked?" He asked quietly. Raphael nodded, and even in the dark, Leonardo knew he did. "Do you want to….tell me about it?"

"Sure….whatever…" Raphael muttered, a little embarrassed. "Jus' get offa me first!"

Leo was about to respond, when a faint rumbling from the wall beside his head, cut him off. "Leo, what is it?" Suddenly Raphael heard a loud crack, and Leonardo's form went limp on his.

Raphael went stiff. "Leo?" He didn't answer. He wiggled out from under his brother and nudged him. Still nothing. Raphael's heart pounded. "Leo!" He screamed. "Leo! Leo! Wake up! Leo, what happened? Leo!" He was on his knees with both hands on his unconscious brother's shoulders, and was shaking him vigorously. He stopped when he heard another faint rumble. Without hesitation, he wrapped his arms around Leo's neck and dragged him on his shell to the other side of the room. "What the shell is goin' on?"

Once it had stopped, Raphael cautiously went back to the wall, and reached out one hand. The wall was…dented…and wet. Raphael gasped with realization. He had done this when he had punched the wall! And that wasn't water! It was…his own blood! He drew his hand back in disgust. Leo was right! He was just destroying his hands. He made a sorry attempt at wiping them off on his chest, which only resulted in pain. He winced. "Okay…but that still doesn't explain the-" Suddenly he knew. He touched the wall again, and some stone crumbled to the ground. That was it! The stone was old, loose, and the wall had more than a few deep cracks in it. When he had hit the wall, some of the looser stones crumbled and fell to the ground. And if he heard it rumble from directly above Leo….it must have fallen and hit him on the head! His eyes widened. "Aw shell! I probably gave him permanent brain damage or somethin'!"

He turned around to check Leo for bumps or bruising, when he tripped on a chunk of rubble. Up until then, his feet were numb from cold, and probably infection. But now, all of the pain one gets when standing on broken feet, came rushing back at once. Raphael let out a sound between a hiss and a choke, and crumpled to the ground. He moved his legs to get up, but they wouldn't support his weight, and he fell again. He slammed a fist down on the ground and listened to the sound echo off the walls. He was stuck. Leo needed him, but he couldn't do anything about it. He turned back to face his brother. "Leo…" he whispered, "Leo I'm sorry."

**Thanks for reading!**** Hope you liked it! And please remember: with great reviews, comes great inspiration. Or something like that. **


	6. Chapter 6

**Author's Note:**

**I sincerely apologize that I vanished off of the face of the earth for about half a year. I won't even make an excuse for myself. I'm sorry. You can yell at me if you want. **

**This chapter may seem a bit of a filler, but I think it's pretty important. Now, before you go on to read it, there are a few things you absolutely need to know to understand what's going on:**

_**IMPORTANT:**_

**I was looking back over the other chapters, and realized I needed to change some things. So you know how Mikey hurt his knees before? I decided that wouldn't work for me since Raphael already can't walk. So, he know has hurt his left shoulder, making his arm unusable, and he has cut it as well. If you really want a refresher, I went back and fixed the rest of the parts involving that in the other chapters, but that's really the only thing I changed other than some grammar mistakes.**

**So now without further ado, an EXTREMELY overdue chapter. **

Michelangelo's jaw dropped. "What? No..it...you...really?" he stammered, still in a state of confusion. He turned and used his good arm to grab the unmoving hand once more. Again he counted only three large fingers. "Dude..." he whispered, "you really are my brother." He sat, dazed for a second, not really knowing what to do. "So um... you're okay, right?" he asked the figure beside him. Of course, no response came. Michelangelo suddenly gasped. "Wait a second..." He scooted over to his brother and quickly dropped his head onto his plastron. He laid there, and only got up after he had felt three healthy breaths come in and out. "Okay," he whispered to his unconscious brother, "you're good. You're okay, I think."

"So um...so who are you exactly?" Michelangelo had realized he actually had no idea who was laying on the floor beside him. He reached for his waist, but found his brother's weapon/s were missing as well. "Oh...whatever, dude. Doesn't matter..." he sighed. " I have to do something now, don't I? Now I'm responsible for me, and for Turtle-X..." He traced a finger around on the dirty floor. "Only...I have no idea how to get out of here."

He slowly stood up, and leaned his right arm against the wall. "Okay. I've been all around this place. No doors, no windows, no nothing." He tapped a finger against his chin. "Okay so how the shell did we get in here?" He stood, thinking for a minute, until it finally hit him. "Ah-ha!" He pointed upwards. "The ceiling, dude! It has to be the ceiling! There must be like, a trap door or something in the ceiling!" He smiled, proud of his accomplishment, until he realized he had no idea what to do next. He decided to find out how close the ceiling was. He snapped his fingers. Another great idea. His right arm tracing the stone wall, and his left arm hanging at his side, he walked around the perimeter of the small room until his feet found a decent sized pebble on the floor. About the size of a golf ball. He picked it up in his good hand, and hurled it up towards the ceiling. He held his breath and waited for the sound of the pebble colliding with something, but the sound never came. The pebble fell back down and landed by his foot with a loud smack. He frowned. "That was weird..." He picked it up again. This time, he leaned back and threw it overhand, as hard as he could. Still, there was no sound. This time it took a good 10 seconds before he heard it fall back down again. He stared up at the nothingness that he now knew as a fact, was not a ceiling with trap doors. "That's it then..." he muttered, "There just is no ceiling. We must be in like, a pit or something."

He was still standing there, thinking about what to do next, when a sudden sound made him jump four feet in the air. He turned to face the noise. It was a weird sort of...crumbling sound. Very loud. "What the shell!" he yelled over the noise. He could hear something falling to the ground. It sounded like... like... "Gah! The wall is falling apart!" He ran to where the sound was coming from, but tripped over his mystery brother before he got there. He scrambled to his feet. "Gotta get you out of here, dude!" He quickly grabbed him by under the arms and pulled him across the floor until he was at the opposite wall. Michelangelo sat there, holding his brother around the chest, until the noise stopped, and stayed there for a while after. "How the shell was..." he stopped suddenly when he thought he could hear voices. "One sec..." he whispered to his brother as he set him down gently and slowly took a few silent steps toward the clearly unstable stone wall.

"Listen! I want to... destroying your...what were you..." Michelangelo seemed to be hearing bits and pieces of somebody scolding somebody else. He crept a little closer. Another voice muttered something quietly, but he couldn't hear what they said. Suddenly they both abruptly stopped talking. The same wall made another crumbling sound, and Michelangelo took a step back, not wanting to be caught in it. It stopped and Michelangelo continued to walk towards the wall again, until suddenly someone was yelling. "...Wake up! ...What happened!" He froze. Some more rumbling, and this time he could hear someone desperately scrambling away from the opposite side of the crumbling wall. It stopped yet again, and then Michelangelo heard footsteps turn around, and start coming back towards him. He held his breath and waited, not daring to even move, but he heard nothing else.

Gathering all of his courage, he cleared his throat. "He-hello?" he tried to yell, but it came out in a whisper. Nobody said anything back. He carefully made his way to the wall, making sure not to trip on any rubble on the way. Once there, he put out his hand, and realized there was now a hole. Just about the width of his arm. He leaned down a bit until he had his face at what he thought was eye-level to it, but there was nothing to be seen on the other side. It was in total darkness too. "Hello!" he yelled inside. He heard something move on the other side. "Hello?" he called again. He was getting nervous. He cleared his throat again and decided to try and get some help if he could. "M-my name is Mikey. I seriously could use some help right now, so if you can-"

"Michelangelo?" he jumped a foot in the air. "Mikey, that you?"

Michelangelo pressed his face up against the wall. "Raph?"

"Yeah, Mike it's me!" Michelangelo's heart leapt with joy. "You okay, Mikey?"

"I am now." He let a small smile creep across his face. "So Raphy... any idea where we are or how we got here?" That was a bit of a stupid question, but he really was desperate to know.

He heard his brother sigh. "No, Mikey. I got no clue. Leo said he-"

"Leo's in there with you? Can I talk to him?"

Another sigh. "No, Mike. Leo uhh... he isn't uhh... he got hit in the head, Mikey. He's unconscious."

Michelangelo bit his lip. For a minute he said nothing. Then finally, "Is he gonna be okay?"

"I think so. I'm just goin' to wait for him to get up, and then give him a once over. He'll be fine."

"You sure?"

"He's sure." This time they both jumped a foot in the air. Raphael whipped his head around.

"Leo!" Leonardo leaned over to give his brother, who was still sitting, a reassuring pat on the head. He immediately started babbling. "Leo, I-I'm so sorry... I didn't mean to... I should have known and I-I shoulda thought about it before-"

"Raph!" His brother cut him off. "It's okay, Raph. It wasn't your fault. I'm fine. Just dizzy, that's all." He patted his brother's head again, and then leaned down to face the wall that his youngest brother was waiting patiently behind. "You okay in there, Mikey?"

Michelangelo, snapping back to attention after sitting through a conversation he knew nothing about, looked down towards his arm. If he could see it, he would give his eldest brother a full report on its condition. However, he couldn't. So he stared down at the nothingness before him for a minute, then he finally said simply, "I dunno."

Raphael turned towards Leonardo. "He doesn't know? Mike! Whattaya mean you don't know!" Leo smacked him gently on the arm.

"Cool it, Raph." he turned back to the hole in the wall. "What do you mean, Michelangelo?" he asked gently.

Michelangelo thought for a second. "Uhh... I totally don't know what happened, here guys. I just remember waking up in here with my arm seriously hurting."

Leonardo frowned. "Can you move it at all?" he waited for a response, but instead heard the sounds of his brother trying, failing, then yelping at the effort of moving his arm. "I see. We'll get that looked at as soon as we get out of here, Mikey." Leonardo's heart was in his throat. His baby brother got hurt. And he was willing to bet he could've done something about it. He was momentarily lost in guilt, when Raphael spoke up again.

"You seen Don, Mike?" he asked through the wall.

Michelangelo snapped his fingers. "Right! I totally forgot dude! See, I was wondering who the heck was in here with me, and then I heard you two, so it totally must be Don! Yeah, he's in here."

Raphael sighed in relief, but Leonardo heard something he didn't like. "You were wondering who was in there with you?"

Michelangelo shifted his weight on his spot on the floor. "Oh, right. You see, when I woke up, Donny wasn't awake." Raphael and Leonardo held their breath. "But I like, listened to his heartbeat and stuff, and I think he's totally fine. Doesn't seem to be hurt. I just have no idea why he's unconscious..."

Leo relaxed, if only a little. "Okay Mike. As long as he's only unconscious, it doesn't matter why right now. The first thing we should be thinking of, is how to get out of here. We need some sort of plan..."

Michelangelo's face lit up. "Oh! Oh! Here's where I can help! I found out something that can seriously help us out here!"

"What, Mike?"

"There's no ceiling!" he yelled excitedly.

Both turtles tilted their heads back. "There's no..."

"Yup! At least, not for a while. I was pitching rocks up there, and they stayed airborne for a long time. I was thinking we must be in a pit or something. Or some sort of trap dungeon thing."

"Okay." Leonardo said. "I won't even ask why you were throwing rocks, but you're right. I think that helps." He turned to face Raphael. "Guys, I think I've got a plan."

**And there you have it. A cliffhanger at its best. I promise I'll update before too long. I mean it this time. Thanks so much for putting up with my laziness. Please review, with any comment you want. Thanks again. ~Hisomi.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Author's Note:**

**I was slacking off and not writing, but it's almost March and I promised myself I would try and have at least one chapter every month. So, here it is. Oh, and to the couple people who reviewed, thanks so much! You guys are amazing! **

Leonardo grabbed a chunk of stone in the wall and pulled with all his might. He heard a snapping noise, and it came loose, falling to the ground and bringing three more stones down with it. The hole in the wall was now about five times the size of what it had been before. He stuck his head through it to see exactly how wide it was, and then stood up far too quickly, hitting the stones above him with his shell. A shower of rubble came down on his head and he jumped back, coughing. He waved a hand in front of his face to clear the dust.

"Nice work, bro." Raphael muttered from across the room where he was sitting. He coughed dramatically. "You're doin' great."

Leonardo snorted. "Yeah, and your job is coming along just fine Raph. Real hard work over there." He wiped his hands on his legs, not really succeeding in cleaning them at all. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm the only one doing anything. So I'd keep your comments to yourself."

"Hey! I'm helping too Leo!" Michelangelo shouted from the other side of the wall. With a grunt he threw another chunk of rock onto the floor.

"Yes, Michelangelo. Even though I told you not to."

"Geez, Leo. You're acting like an old lady. I told you one zillion times I'm okay. I'm helping one handed."

"I know, Mikey. But I just want to be careful." Leonardo sighed. He stepped back towards the wall. "Watch your feet," he warned as he pushed one more rock over the edge and into the other side. "There. It should be big enough. See if you can climb through, Mikey."

Michelangelo shifted nervously. "I don't know, Leo," he said, "I kinda don't wanna leave Don in here by himself." He paused. "I mean, it's not like anything's gonna happen, but it's just..."

"No, I know what you mean, Mikey." He stopped to think for a moment. "Is there more rubble on your side, or mine?"

He heard Michelangelo kick at the ground a bit. "There's like nothing here, bro. I think I mostly pushed everything onto your side."

Leonardo slid his foot forwards and found a large pile of rock. "You're right." He turned around. "Raph!" he called out.

"What?"

"Me and you are going to have to climb through the hole in the wall."

"Are you serious?"

"Raph, think about it. It's the only thing that makes sense if we ever want to get out of here."

"And just when I was startin' to like the place too." Raphael growled as he propped himself up against the wall a bit more. "So how are we gonna do this?"

Leonardo shrugged. "I don't know, Raph. I guess me and Mikey will just have to carry you through."

Raphael raised his hands defensively. "Oh no, Leo. If you think the two of you are gonna shove me through a hole in the wall, you're a couple bricks short of a load."

"We're not going to 'shove you through a hole in the wall'," Leonardo said with his best Raphael impersonation, "I'm just going to lift you up, pass you to Mikey on the other side, and he'll put you down." Raphael opened his mouth to protest, but Leonardo quickly continued. "We just need to be all on one side if this is going to work. And the other side of the wall is safer." Raphael sort of growled, but said nothing else. Leonardo slowly started walking towards his brother with his arms held out in front of him. "I'm coming over there, Raph. Warn me if you think I'm about to- Doof!" Leonardo tripped over his brother and crashed to the floor, sprawled out on his stomach.

"Uhh, are you guys okay in there?" Michelangelo shouted through the wall.

Leonardo slowly picked himself up off of the floor. "Ugh. Yeah, Mikey we're okay. I tripped over Raph." He stood up and brushed himself off. "I told you to warn me if I got too close, Raph!" he scolded. He waited, but Raphael didn't say anything back. "Raph?"

He jumped as a hand shot out and hit him in the leg. "Shuttup! It ain't my fault you're so freakin' stupid, Leo! I didn't know how close you were! You think I like bein' tripped on?"

Leonardo took a deep breath. It was quite obvious to him by now that his younger brother did not really know how to deal with situations like this where they were so disabled. He should probably just do his best to ignore his brother's attitude. The first time his brother had gotten so riled up had not turned out to be a good experience.

He tried to sound as sincere as possible. "No. I'm sorry, Raph. I forgot how small this room is. It's my fault."

"You're dang right it is."

Leonardo rolled his eyes. "Okay, Raph. I'm going to pick you up now."

Raphael said nothing.

"Guys?" Michelangelo asked again.

Leonardo frowned. "It's okay, Mikey. Give us a sec!" He knelt down beside Raphael. "You feeling okay, Raph?"

"Peachy."

The blue clad turtle bit his lip. "Okay. Fine." He stood up, leaned over, and scooped up his brother bridal style. He slid his feet carefully across the floor, pushing each rock out of his path so he didn't trip. He reached the hole in the wall, and sat his brother down on the edge of it. "Come here, Mikey." he said softly. He heard footsteps come to the other side of the hole. "Turn around. I'll put Raph on your shell."

"What, like a piggyback?"

Raphael silently cursed his eldest brother. "Yeah, Mike. Sure. Just turn around." Leonardo carefully lifted Raphael from under his arms, and held him out until he felt him hit Michelangelo. "You got him, Mikey?"

"Sure! Just hold on tight, kay Raph? I've only got you on one side."

"Whatever."

Michelangelo walked slowly over to where he remembered he had propped Donatello up against the wall. He slowly crouched down and eased Raphael off his shell. "There you go, you little Raphy, you. You want a lollipop while I'm at it?"

"Mikey. If you don't shut up right now, I swear I will beat your face off."

"Beat my face off? Leo! Can Raph really beat my face off?" He shrieked suddenly when Raphael punched him in the leg. He grabbed it with one hand and hopped up and down on his other foot. "Ow! Ow, ow ow! Raaaaaph!"

"And your face comes next!"

Leonardo sighed. "Guys! Focus!" The bickering stopped. He took a deep breath and rubbed his hands together. "Okay. Do you guys remember the plan?"

"Sure do!" Michelangelo started with much more enthusiasm than needed. "Me and you climb out of here all Spider-Man style, and then we come back and rescue Raph and Don!"

"Exactly. Except forget the Spider-Man part. This isn't going to be easy."

**TMNT – TMNT - TMNT - TMNT - TMNT - TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT **

"You ready, Leo?"

"I think so, Mikey. Are you?

"Y-yup. Anytime you're ready bro!"

The two turtles were back to back (or shell to shell) in the center of the room. They were facing the longer walls, so there was really only about two feet between them and the walls in front of them on either side.

"Okay Mikey. Grab my arms." Leonardo reached behind him and locked his left elbow with Michelangelo's right. He reached back and grabbed the other one. Michelangelo yelped. He dropped it. "Oh, shell, Mike. I'm sorry! I didn't mean to-"

Michelangelo coughed. "Chill, Leo. It's cool. Here. Just grab hold of my wrist instead."

Leonardo cleared his throat. "Alright. Let's see how well we can do this." He stuck out his leg and found the wall. He held it out so it was flat against the stone. He took a step back in order to straighten his leg. "Okay, go." Michelangelo, who was now a lot closer to the wall, stuck his leg out. His foot found the stone before his leg was even half extended. He straightened it as much as he could, and pushed hard against Leo.

"Kay. You're up, Leo."

Leonardo nodded. He lifted his other leg, pushing with all his might against Michelangelo's shell. Michelangelo wavered, but kept his balance. He lifted his other leg, and they were in the air. He turned his head to one side. "Okay, okay!" he hissed between clenched teeth, "Let's go! This is not a lovely experience!"

Leonardo brought his right foot one step up the wall. Michelangelo brought his up. Then Leonardo brought his left foot up. Michelangelo brought his. They were moving about two feet a minute, but they were moving.

They were quite high up, about 25 feet up, until Leonardo put his foot down at an awkward angle. When Michelangelo brought his foot up, Leonardo began to slip. He grabbed at Michelangelo's arm so he didn't fall. His youngest brother let out a yell louder than even he knew he was capable of. Leonardo jumped and started to slide down Mikey's shell as his brother's legs suddenly buckled. Leo dropped Mikey's arm as they quickly started to slip back down the wall.

"Mikey! We're losing grip here!"

"I-I'm trying Leo!"

Raphael was on his knees. "Guys! What's happenin' up there?"

The friction between the wall and the turtles' feet was immense. "Mikey! We're falling!"

"I'm pushing!"

"Guys!" Raphael's voice sounded a lot closer.

Leonardo squeezed his eyes shut. "MICHELANGELO!"

With a burst of energy due to the adrenaline suddenly pumping through him, Michelangelo pushed his legs against the wall as hard as he could, and they instantly stopped falling. For a few minutes, all that could be heard was the sound of the two turtles panting.

Raphael's heart was racing. "You guys...are idiots..." he said softly. "And... you coulda died... And you're idiots." There was really nothing else to be said at this point, as all three of the turtles silently agreed.

Leonardo slowly tried to calm his racing heart. He leaned back to say something to a very stunned Michelangelo, but he cut him off. "L-let's just...keep going..." He managed to get out between a series of grunts and gasps for air.

Leonardo, still a little frazzled himself, only nodded, and lifted his foot. He sighed softly and wondered how long they could keep this up.

**TMNT – TMNT - TMNT - TMNT - TMNT - TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT**

Raphael danced his fingers through the dirt on the floor and then sighed impatiently, blowing it around. "Have you guys, I don't know, accomplished anything yet?" He yelled upwards.

Leonardo rolled his eyes, and ignored him. Both turtles were now plastered with sweat. They had been slowly climbing up the walls for about 10 minutes now, and Leonardo guessed they were about 35 feet up based on how far away Raphael sounded.

Michelangelo leaned his head over and made what Leonardo considered to be some very disturbing noises. "Mike?" Leonardo grunted. "What are-" Michelangelo shushed him. He then spat down towards the floor, and brought his head back up. Leo smirked. They waited a second, and then finally heard the satisfying sound of it landing right beside Raphael, and splattering onto him.

"G-gah!" He raised an eyebrow and looked up. He swore he could hear his brothers snickering. He stared down at his wet hand. "Wait..." He looked up and then down again. "Michelangelo, you are SO dead!" He frantically wiped his hand on the floor, now utterly disgusted.

Leonardo and Michelangelo were smiling now. And they both were climbing with a bit more energy.

Then Leonardo suddenly felt a whoosh of cold air. He frowned. "Mike, do you-" Then everything seemed to move in slow motion.

Leonardo moved his foot up but it met air instead of wall. His foot went flying forwards, and he lost grip on his brother. Michelangelo's screamed as he sunk backwards head first. Leonardo's leg held onto the ledge of the opening he had stepped into, and he swung his other leg into it so he was dangling upside down. He had no time to think of any thing to yell to his brother, so he let out an animalistic roar at the top of his lungs while he reached out frantically for Mikey's hands. Instead, his left hand found the other turtle's knee. He grabbed onto it as hard as he could, but his hand slipped up to his ankle. He gripped it and swung his other hand down, holding it two-handed with a vice grip. Raphael was shouting. Michelangelo was still screaming half hysterically. Leonardo bit his lip as sweat dripped from his neck down into his eyes.

He gave his brother's leg a hard shake. "MICHELANGELO!" He bellowed. "IT'S OKAY!" His screaming died down. "It's okay, I've got you."

Raphael was still shouting. "LEO! MIKEY! WHAT THE SHELL IS GOIN' ON UP THERE!" He too, sounded hysterical. "PLEASE, GUYS! TALK TO ME! GUYS!"

"Raph!" Leonardo yelled as loud as he could. His head was starting to swim from being upside-down. "Raph! We're okay!"

Raphael sighed and released a string of curses. "Shell, don't you EVER do that again," he yelled, and placed his hands over his pounding heart. "What the shell even happened?"

"I'm-" Michelangelo coughed. "Still k-kinda wondering that myself, R-aph." He was literally dangling upside-down by one foot. He had also begun to slowly spin back and forth. He felt Leonardo's hands clamp down even harder.

"I...don't know, guys. I think I stepped into an opening." he tilted his head up. "You okay, Mikey?"

"D-doing just fine, Leo! Don't mind me!" Red spots danced in front of his eyes. He screwed them tight. "Just find a way outta this, mmkay?"

Leonardo frowned. "Okay. I have an idea."

"Hey! Two seconds! N...new record, bro!"

Leonardo slowly slid his legs apart, and they hit the walls of the opening when they were only about a foot apart. He smiled for only a second, and then was back to serious-mode. "Okay, Mike. I'm going to swing you up, and you need to climb up me, into the opening, and then pull me up."

Michelangelo opened his eyes. "Climb up you? Aren't you gonna fall?"

"I think I've got a good enough grip on the edge, and I can push my legs into the sides of the opening."

"O-okay. I'm game."

"Guys!" Raphael yelled. "...Be careful..."

Michelangelo smiled. He would definitely hold onto this moment of cute Raphy fluff and bring it up later when this whole experience was over. "Sure thing, Raph!"

Leonardo pushed his legs into the walls and started to slowly swing Michelangelo's leg back and forth. Once he had enough momentum going, he yanked upwards as hard as he could, and Michelangelo flew upwards. He pushed into the wall behind him with his right hand, and his feet flew up and rammed into Leonardo's plastron. He gasped as a whoosh of air left his lungs. "Sorry," Michelangelo whispered. Lights flashed in his head after being flipped so quickly.

He felt Leonardo grab his feet with both hands, and he held them so that Michelangelo was basically standing on his palms. He counted to three, and pushed off of the wall, making a desperate grab for the opening that he could only trust was where he thought it was. Sure enough, his head and his shoulders flew into the opening, and he pressed his elbows against the walls with as much force as he could muster. Then he wiggled in, using Leonardo's legs as a sort of ladder on the way up.

He sat back on his knees. The opening was roomier than he expected. Not wide, but tall and based on the fact that he could see a tiny spec of light in the distance, he guessed that it was very long too.

"Um. Anytime now, Mike." Leo muttered sarcastically through clenched teeth.

Michelangelo snapped back to attention. "Right! Sorry!" He found Leonardo's legs and grabbed onto one of them with his right hand. He sucked a big breath in, and then pulled with all his might. Seconds later, the brothers were in the tunnel together. Both breathing hard.

Raphael yelled something, but he was beyond their hearing range now. Leonardo held Michelangelo's feet as he leaned out of the tunnel. "WHAT?"

"I SAID- ...Aww, nevermind.."

"WHAT?"

"Nothin', Mikey! Just you and Leo be careful, you hear!"

Michelangelo nodded. "Yeah, Raph! Okay!" He turned back, but then stopped and added, "You two stay put until we come rescue you, okay?"

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Very funny, Mikey!"

Michelangelo smiled. He turned and shuffled back form the edge. "Okay, let's move Leo!"

His brother nodded, and the two turtles began carefully crawling down the tunnel.

**Yes, I got the idea from The Emperor's New Groove. And no, I don't think it would be as simple as the way it happened in the movie, or in my story. But something had to occur here. :) Thanks to everyone who's following my story. Please leave a review so I know how you guys feel about it! ~Hisomi**


	8. Chapter 8

**Author's Note:**

**Another chapter up! Thanks so much to Amonraphoenix who bounced ideas around with me, and really helped with how I plan to continue this story. Sorry I couldn't get it to you for you to beta, but I really felt I should post it, considering it's already overdue. I'll try twice as hard to finish chapter 9 early, okay? :)**

**P.S. - It was brought to my attention that it doesn't make sense that in chapter 5 Raphael caused the rocks to break away, no matter how old or cracked they were. And I was like, "Yeah, okay. That makes sense." But then I was actually watching some TMNT, and I came across 'I, Monster' Season 4 Episode 5, in which Raphael just so happens to break pretty much half a stadium wall with just his 'thick as a brick' self. ...Just thought it was funny because it fit right in with what happened in that chapter. Anyways...**

"But...squash? Master Splinter can lecture us about the importance of vegetables 'till he turns an awesome shade of green, but I'm not eating squash. Whatever jerk who labeled it as edible needs to get his brain checked. And then there's eggplant. I mean, ew! It's so..."

Leonardo rolled his eyes. He was crawling in front of his brother who was holding his shell with his good hand. And he had been listening to him talk about vegetables for the past ten minutes. He shot a glance behind him, but couldn't see anything. He squinted forwards. The light didn't seem to have gotten any closer. He sighed.

"...and I was happily eating my nachos, right? And then Donny says something about 'the awesome chemicals in vegetables' or whatever, and all I could think of was squash. So I put down my nachos, and I said-"

"Mikey."

"Hm? What, Leo?"

"Shut up."

Michelangelo blinked. "O-okay..." He stopped talking for a minute, and the turtles continued crawling in silence. But it was quickly broken, after Michelangelo grabbed his brother's arm and pulled on it until they came to a stop.

"Mikey, wh-"

"Leo. Listen to me. I've seen all the movies. When someone gets all freaked out, the other guy starts talking about random stuff so his buddy gets distracted." He smirked despite himself. "Can you guess which role you're playing?"

Leonardo tried to say something, but his brother continued.

"I was just trying to make sure you aren't losing it, Leo. It felt weird because you weren't saying anything."

Leonardo frowned. He felt a little guilty. "Sorry, Mike. I was...thinking. And it was kind of hard to do that when you were telling stories about Master Splinter and...squash. I think you were talking about squash."

Michelangelo smirked. "I don't even remember what I was talking about." He shifted around until he was on his knees. "What were you thinking?"

"I was trying to...remember. What happened, why we're here."

"Ohh, okay. See, I totally would be doing that, but I sorta already did. I can't remember more than Raph." He closed his eyes. "Raph...screaming. Yup...I think he was screaming." He shook his head. "Anything up 'til then is that horror flick I fell asleep watching on the couch."

"Yeah. I remembered that too. But, I think I remember something more than that. There are... things going through my head that I think are memories, but... I'm just trying to think of what I really remember seeing, and what I was probably just dreaming about."

Michelangelo snapped his fingers. "Hey! Hey! I just thought of something! Do you wanna know how Raph knew it was you?"

"What?"

"When you woke up, he was calling your name, right?"

"Mikey, you weren't even there."

"I know! But when you were over inspecting Donny, Raph and I were talking. Anyways, he said he knew it was you because you were mumbling stuff."

Leonardo cocked his head to one side. "I was mumbling?"

"Yeah, you know! Sleep talking! He said you really, really wanted Don. You kept saying, 'Don! Donny! Donatello!' and whatever other nicknames we have for him."

Leonardo said nothing. Michelangelo could hear him shifting around.

"That jog your memory at all?"

"Yeah, Mikey... Yeah, I think it does." He turned around. "Here, let's keep going and I'll tell you what I remember."

**TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT**

Never, to any living, breathing being would he ever admit it, but Raphael was getting nervous. He had just been left alone by his brothers injured in the darkness. Alone but for his unconscious younger brother who had yet to show any signs of waking up.

He sighed. He had run out of things to do to busy and distract himself. He was tired of counting the water droplets dripping onto the floor from who-knows-where. He had already written the names of all the villains he hated into the dirt (which was quite a few) and then scribbled them out, and he had run through every ninjitsu kata he could think of in his head. He slouched a little lower against the wall, and closed his eyes. At least the sound of his brother's steady breaths were there to ensure him that he was alright.

He turned his head towards his brother. "Leo looked over you, right? You're fine, ya drama queen." He chuckled softly. "Why am I talkin' to you?" He sat there, chuckling at the thought of talking to someone unconscious, until he suddenly thought of something and stopped. Raphael frowned. "Am I goin' nuts?" He shook his head. "Naw, I bet it's perfectly normal to talk to yourself when you're locked in some dirty old dungeon by yourself. Happens to everyone."

He reached over and poked Donatello in the ribs. He didn't even twitch. "Will ya wake up already, brainiac?" He scooted a little closer to his brother and kept his hand on his chest. "You're gonna make me start gettin' worried."

**TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT**

"Leo..."

"Mikey. If you make one more 'there's a light at the end of this tunnel' joke..."

"No, it's not that. I just wanted to summarize here. Stop me if I mess up."

Leonardo nodded, then realized his brother had no way of knowing that he did. "Sure, Mike. Go ahead."

Michelangelo took a deep breath. "You seem to remember fighting. You don't know what, but you remember we were fighting something... or someone. Which makes sense, considering the circumstances. Because I mean, how else would we possibly-"

"You're rambling. Go on..."

"Right. Sorry. So, we were fighting, right? And then you remember seeing Raph falling, and I guess I heard him fall because that was probably when he was yelling, but then you...didn't see him. because...help me out here."

"I don't know. I just remember seeing him fall. We were in the lair, so the only possible place for him to fall off of is the second floor, down on to the bottom."

Michelangelo winced. "Okay, so Raph fell. And that's how he hurt his feet. But you never saw him hit the ground because you got distracted because something grabbed you and turned you around. And then you saw Donny, and you thought he was...you thought Donny was..."

"Dead. I thought he was dead. I saw him, lying on the floor, and his eyes were wide open, staring at me, but he wasn't moving. I was yelling his name, but he didn't move. Not once." He ran a hand over his face. "That's...that's it... Next thing I know, Raph's yelling my name."

"So I guess you wanted Don 'cause you were worried about him."

"Yeah. I didn't actually remember anything about Don until you said I was talking about him."

"Okay. Well, this information is...concerning,"

"Disturbing,"

"Ultimately terrifying,"

"But it can be helpful. We at least have a start, Mikey. If only you remembered something more... Actually, it's a mystery why we don't just remember it all."

"Yeah, but to the rest of the world, it's a mystery why there are giant, mutant turtles who fight crime."

Leonardo smiled. "I guess that's true." He nodded. "We'll figure this out. And besides, I feel a draft, don't you? It seems like we're getting closer."

**TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT**

Raphael awoke with a start. That was the third time he had heard the same noise, and it was getting harder and harder to ignore it. "What does a turtle have to do to get some sleep around here?" he growled, rubbing his eyes. He had been sleeping fifteen minutes, but it felt like two. "It's not you, is it?" He asked his still unconscious brother, who gave no response. "Didn't think so."

He tilted his head back, squinting. The noise seemed to be coming from above. He closed his eyes and listened. It sounded like something knocking against the wall. But, it seemed to be getting closer. He heard it again, louder this time. Was it getting closer? It stopped for a second and he cocked his head to one side, listening carefully.

_BANG!_ He jumped when he heard the noise directly beside him. "What the!" He blinked, staring down at the spot on the floor where he heard it come from. "What was-"

_BANG! _He jumped again, although not as much, when he heard the sound again, in front of him this time. His head swerved towards it. Another time, to his left, and then in front of him again. His hand darted to the left of him and collided with a stone about half the size of his fist. "Sh-shell! This place is coming apart!"

Without hesitation, he rolled over, face-down on top of Donatello. He wrapped his arms around his shell and pressed his forehead into his. He tried to cover Donatello's legs with his own, but they were too numb for him to tell if he succeeded or not. Chunks of stone were falling everywhere.

A couple landed on his shell and rolled off. He startled, but they didn't do any damage. Some smaller ones hit his shoulders, and he was sure quite a few were bouncing off his legs, but he couldn't feel them. He hissed as a particularly sharp stone nicked him on the back of the neck, but he didn't move. Instead, his grip tightened on Donatello.

The shower of rubble only lasted about a minute more, but Raphael found himself hesitant to let go of his brother. "You're okay, buddy. I gotcha." he whispered. He finally loosened his grip and slid off of him, keeping his head on Donatello's chest. He clasped the back of his neck with one hand and winced. "Stings a little, but s'not so bad." He blinked up towards the ceiling. "This place is freakin' fallin' in on us. Must be ancient..." Raphael let out a few curse words just to get it out of his system. It had come to be a force of habit. "Aw, the important thing's you're alright.

He laid his head back down on his brother's chest and closed his eyes, calmed by the gentle rising and falling. But his eyes flew open when the rhythmic pattern suddenly stopped abruptly. He sat up. "Don?" He laid a hand on his chest. It had stopped moving. "Don!" A strangled, choking noise came from his brother's throat, and Raphael's heart started racing. "DONATELLO!"

He pulled himself to his knees, and brought his hands down on his brother's hard plastron, racking his brain for anything he could remember about turtle health care. Donatello seemed to try to take a breath, but it stopped abruptly. Raphael hit him again. Tears were forming in the corners of his eyes. He had no idea what to do. "Don! ...Shell! DON!" His brother shook once, violently, and then stopped. Now shaking himself, Raphael raised his hands, and with one final burst of adrenaline, slammed his hands down onto his brother.

Donatello bolted upright, coughing and hacking. Raphael let out the breath he hadn't realized he had been holding, and ran his arm across his eyes. He smiled with relief. "Hey. Welcome to the land of the living, bro." Donatello continued coughing. He had his hands on his chest. Raphael reached over and put a hand on his shell. Instantly, his brother's hand shot out and smacked it away. He scrambled backwards, still coughing, while desperately trying to get enough air to say something.

"Woah, Donny! S'okay, bro! It's me, Rapha-"

"L-leo..." Donatello managed to get out. His coughing subsided and he was slowly taking deep, shaky breaths. "Leo...nardo" His voice was barely over a whisper.

"Donny, sheesh! Calm down! Leo's fine! He just left with Mikey to-"

"LEO!"

**Poor Donny. Poor, hysterical Donny. Ah, whatever. **

**This chapter doesn't contain much action mostly because it was made to be informative, while still leaving you half in the dark. Dontcha just love being in the dark? ;) Review, please!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Author's Note:**

**Sorry I took so long...again. I do have somewhat of an excuse, but it doesn't really matter. Please review!**

"Leo! Mikey! Get Mikey! H-HELP MICHELANGELO! LEO! LEO!" Raphael was stunned. Donatello had stopped coughing, and was now screaming at the top of his voice, panic and pure hysteria evident in his voice as it cracked and got higher with every yell. Never in Raphael's entire life had he heard his usually calm and collected brother freak out like this. He shook his head and started to move towards him, but he stopped, caught up in what the turtle was yelling. "Leo! Leo, where are you! What... what happened? LEO! They hurt Mikey, we have to help Mikey!" He seemed to wait for a response, and Raphael meant to say something, but his mouth felt dry and nothing came out. Donatello coughed again. He took a few deep breaths. "L-Leo? Leo! Where is everybody? What happened? Mikey? Where's Mikey? Raph! Anybody!"

Raphael jolted at the sound of his own name. He shook his head then cleared his throat, and heard his brother jump at the sudden sound. "Don.. Donny, it's, ah... It's okay, I'm here."

Donatello drew in a sharp breath. "Who said that?" His heart beat was pounding in his ears.

"It's me, Raphael. Just like it was me, Raphael, five minutes ago. Oh wait, you probably didn't hear that part over your own screaming."

For a minute, all that could be heard was Donatello's shallow breathing slowly calming down and returning to a steady rhythm. Cautiously, he asked,"Raph? It's really you?"

He smirked, but rolled his eyes, keeping up the tough tone. "Nope. No, I'm just messin' with ya. I'm actually your Gramma Susie."

Donatello leapt to his feet. "Where are you?"

Raphael waved. "Over here, bro. Come slowly. There's chunks of rock everywhere."

"Okay, I'll be right I th- oooooh..." After only a few steps, Donatello teetered back and forth. He stopped where he was and clutched his head with both hands.

Raphael leaned forwards. "Donny?"

"I'm...I'm okay. It's just my head... I'm coming." He took another step, and his knees wobbled. He stood still with one hand pressed against the wall for a minute, but when his legs buckled again he gave up trying to walk and slid down the wall until he was sitting with his shell leaned against it. He sighed and rubbed his temples. "I guess I'll have to talk to you from over here."

Raphael frowned. "Your head, huh? You hit it off something?"

Donatello squinted and rubbed his eyes, still trying to see through the darkness. "Um, no.. They shot me with a-"

"Shot!" Raphael's eyes went wide. "Shot! They shot you?" He clenched his hands into fists. "They who?"

The younger turtle shrank back a little. "Not with a bullet, Raph. And, I don't know... Them. The...guys. The people who- Wait...You don't know what I'm talking about?"

His brother scowled. "As a matter o' fact, I don't." He replied weakly, quickly feeling all the more helpless and confused. He heard Donatello gasp softly. "Last thing I remember was what I guess was last night. Then we woke up here.."

"We?" Donatello asked.

Raphael rubbed his hands up and down his numb legs. "Yeah, we." he said. "Now you better spill. Leo, Mike, and me don't got any memories of what happened at all. For some reason, you're the only guy who knows anything. So let's hear it."

"Wait, Leo and Mikey are here? Where? Did you see Mikey? Is he okay?"

"Donny! Geez!" Raphael snapped impatiently. "Mikey and Leo were here. They left. They took the only way outta this joint. Up. An' I don't know why you think Mike's dyin'! He's fine! Well, he hurt his arm real bad or somethin', but he's gonna live. You askin' questions like that only makes me confused!"

Donatello bit his lip. "Sorry... I just... Wow, I don't see a logical explanation as to why I'm the only one with any recollection of the events that brought us here."

"Well if what you just said means what I think it does, then that makes two of us."

"Alright," Donatello leaned forwards, "I think my head's staring to clear up now. So tell me. What happened between the time when you woke up until now?"

Raphael shook his head. "Oh, no, wiseguy. You first. You tell, I tell."

"Fine. I'll tell you all that I remember." The younger turtle cleared his throat. "It happened last night. Right after Mikey fell asleep watching 'The Thing That Ate Hoboken'..."

**TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT**

Michelangelo tapped his brother's shell. "Leo, stop for a sec," he whispered. The two of them stopped crawling.

"Mikey, wh-"

"Shhhh! Listen!" He stretched his legs out and pressed the side of his head against the ceiling of the vent. "I can hear something..."

Leonardo cocked his head to one side. He closed his eyes, and sure enough, he could hear something above them. It sounded like footsteps. They sounded like they were coming from behind them, but as they listened, they moved closer and closer. "Mikey... Don't make a sound." His brother nodded, and retreated from the ceiling.

The two turtles sat there, not daring to move an inch as the footsteps slowly became louder, getting closer. They could feel the vibrations in the vent as they passed over them. Dust showered down onto Leonardo's face unexpectedly. He felt it sprinkle into his eyes, and reared back, waving his hands to try and clear the air while trying desperately not to cough. He collided with Michelangelo, who slammed into the side of the vent and let out a yelp. The footsteps stopped.

Leonardo's eyes went wide, and he wrapped his arms around him, and slapped a hand over his brother's mouth. The younger turtle let out a high pitched whimper, and Leonardo quickly drew back after realizing he had all but crushed his injured arm. He heard the footsteps backtrack. He shuffled away from Michelangelo and held his breath.

After a few minutes of complete silence, just when Leonardo thought he would die due to lack of oxygen, the person overhead carried on their way. Still, the turtles didn't dare say anything until the footsteps were long out of hearing range. Finally convinced they were gone, Leonardo sighed. "That was a close one." He waited, and frowned when his brother said nothing in agreement. "Mikey? You okay?"

"Huh? Yeah..." His voice sounded raspy. He cleared his throat, and it sounded better. "Who the shell was that?"

"I don't know, but I doubt having them finding two giant talking turtles crawling through their air vents would be a good thing. But at least now we know that the floor is really close above us." No reply again. "Hey, did I hit your arm?"

"What? Nah, it's all good."

"No. I did hit it, didn't I? Quit the tough guy act and let me see it."

Michelangelo defensively pulled his arm in close to his chest. "Uhh, Leo? There's nothing to see. And no offense or anything, but I don't want anybody touching my arm but me. Just keep your shell on until we get some light okay?"

Leonardo frowned, but he knew that his stubborn younger brother wasn't about to change his mind. "Ah...Alright. Let's see if we can catch up to those footsteps. They might lead us to a way out of here as long as we stay far enough behind so they don't hear us."

"Kay. Ladies first."

Leonardo rolled his eyes and crawled past his brother. Michelangelo moved to follow him, and grimaced as his arm moved even the slightest bit while doing so. He clenched his eyes shut, and put his other arm on Leo's shell. "Let's hurry. The sooner we get out of here, the better."

**A first for me- I actually do have the next chapter written. I'm just going to wait a FEW days before posting it. So it won't be another... like two month wait. Please review to let me know whether or not there are still a few people following this story.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Author's Note:**

**It's exam time! My last four exams of my minor year, and then summer! Woohoo! :) So I figured I'd post this before things get too too busy, but don't expect another one until AT LEAST next week. **

_ Leonardo poured the final drop of tea into his mouth. He stared sadly at the empty cup for a moment, before placing it down on his plate with a clink. He turned his attention back to the T.V. and realized he had no idea what was happening in the movie. He had been reading a book during the commercials, and had obviously gotten a little distracted by it. He looked to the lump on the couch beside him. "Mikey? You still watching this? Because I am completely lo-" he stopped himself when he realized his youngest brother was no longer awake. Smiling, he stood up and turned off the T.V. Leonardo gathered his dishes and made his way to the kitchen where he found Donatello hunched over something on the counter._

_ "You still up, Don?" he asked, tossing his dishes in the sink and taking a seat at the table._

_ Donatello looked up. "Huh? Oh, hey Leo. Yeah, I'm trying to fix the microwave. Raph broke it."_

_ "Again? Didn't he do that last week?"_

_ He shrugged. "This kitchen doesn't exactly get along with everybody." Leonardo nodded in agreement. It wasn't a secret that none of them but Michelangelo could make anything but tea successfully. "Hey, can you pass me that screwdriver? ...Thanks." Donatello got to work at trying to screw the hinges of the microwave door back on. "Hey, weren't you watching that movie with Mikey that he so desperately wanted you to watch with him? The.. something that ate...somewhere?"_

_ "The thing that ate Hoboken? Yeah, but Mikey should know by now that I'm not the movie type. And besides, he's totally-" Leonardo was cut off by a loud snore coming from the living room. He looked at Donatello, and they both started laughing. _

_ "Has he even stayed awake for a single movie marathon yet?" Donatello chuckled._

_ "I don't think so. He thinks he's so grown up that he can stay up this late every night, but I keep on trying to tell him that I just don't think he's physically capable. It's kind of funny how mad he gets when he realizes he fell asleep the next morning, though."_

_ Donatello smirked. "Yeah, he-" The two turtles jumped at the sound of the Lair's security alarm. They were instantly on their feet. _

_ "Someone's trying to get into the lair!" Leonardo shouted._

_ "Come on, let's check it out." They raced over to the computer, and Donatello started up the security system and began typing away._

_ Suddenly the speaker system hooked up to the computer began to crackle. It made all sorts of static noises, until it finally cleared up and a loud, male voice could be heard perfectly clear. "Hello, little monsters! Are you home?"_

_ The turtles shot each other a look. "Don, what was that?"_

_ He stopped typing and turned around."I don't know! It came from the speakers! I think someone's hacking our entire computer system!" They winced as more crackling noises were made. Then the voice came back._

_ "Well, no matter. I'm coming in either way!" It called in a sing-song tone. _

_ They continued to stare at the speakers. "...What?" Leonardo asked nobody in particular. Then he jumped again at the sound of an explosion, and Michelangelo screaming. _

_ Donatello jumped to his feet and they took off running towards the sound. "MIKEY!" _

_ They rounded the corner into the living room, and found the door to the elevator lying on the floor near the television, and smoke was billowing from where it used to be. "This isn't good." Leonardo growled. He drew his swords, Donatello his bo, and they stood, knees bent, waiting for the smoke to clear. As it gradually did, nobody made a sound. The turtles stared at their attackers, who had yet to move. _

_ An army of at least forty people, all clad in black tech armor and each armed with different high-tech weapons stood in front of them. Standing amongst them were three giant, black battle suits. They were the size of at least two Casey's stacked on top of each other. Their heads were clear domes, and seated at the controls inside of each one was a man in the same black armor. The red symbol of the three-toed dragon was stamped on the front of all three of them. The one in the middle held a very startled Michelangelo dangling by one arm. His nunchucks were sprawled on the ground in front of him._

_ Leonardo lifted his swords to point at the one holding his brother. He glared at the man inside, wishing he could see through his tinted helmet. "Put. Him. Down."_

_ The sea of soldiers began to shuffle around as a man in the back pushed his way to the front. He was wearing the same thing as the rest of them, only bright red. Clearly he thought he was important. He positioned himself in front of the middle battle suit. Then he pulled off his helmet to reveal himself. A middle aged man with shaggy, blonde hair, a long, pointed nose and the beginnings of a scruffy blonde beard. "Ah, ah, ah!" he teased. "Before we get rough, I just wanted to introduce myself."_

_ "Leo!" Donatello whispered. "That's the guy from the speakers." Leonardo nodded, but his gaze never left Michelangelo._

_ The man stepped forwards, still keeping about ten feet between him and the turtles. "My name is..." He frowned. Then it quickly turned back into a broad smile. "Well, that's not really important. Since I really couldn't care less what any of you things have for titles..." he rambled, waving a hand at Michelangelo as he said 'things'. Michelangelo stuck out his tongue. The man shrugged and pulled out a bright red pistol from his pocket. "Anyways... The point of the matter is.." His smile fell once again and he raised the gun, aiming for Donatello's head. "I've come here to kill you. All of you. Your whole pathetic little family of... whatever it is that you are." Leonardo squeezed his swords a little harder. "You kill mine, I kill yours. Done."_

_ "What?" Donatello asked. "We don't even know who you-"_

_ "DON, LOOK OUT!" Michelangelo yelled. The man in red pulled the trigger, sending a red beam shooting for Donatello's face. Leonardo jumped towards him and pushed him to the ground._

_ "You okay?" he asked, helping him up._

_ "Yeah, I'm good."_

_ Leonardo turned back to the man. Pure hatred in his gaze. "I don't know who you are, or why," he gestured to the Foot symbol on the suits, "you're working for a dead villain, but you had better get the shell out of here while you have the chance." The man raised the pistol towards him this time. Leonardo's eyes narrowed. "Just try it. I dare you." He winked at Michelangelo, who winked back._

_ Donatello was still at his side. "Leo, what-"_

_ "Go get Raph. We can take them." he nodded. _

_ The man pulled the trigger, and Donatello took off up the stairs. Leonardo whipped his sword in front of his face and the laser reflected off, shooting onto the floor. "Mikey, go!" he yelled. Michelangelo swung his legs upwards and kicked off of the suit startling the soldier inside. Flying from its grasp, he landed on the ground, grabbed his weapons, and ran over to his brother._

_ "Leo!" he hissed, slightly panting, "Who the shell are these guys?" His nunchucks were already spinning wildly._

_ "I don't know, but if they have anything to do with The Foot, they're not friends of ours." He looked his younger brother in the eyes, and raised his voice. "We can take them."_

_ The man smirked and stepped forwards. "Take us?" he waved a hand behind him. "Us?" His smirk morphed into an ear-to-ear grin. "Good luck." He motioned forwards, and the army behind him charged._

_TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT_

_ Donatello burst into Raphael's room so quickly the door nearly flew off. "RAPH!" _

_ Raphael, who had been sleeping, jumped up out of bed and whipped out his sais from under his pillow. "What, what!" he yelled frantically, then when his brain cleared and he realized it was his brother, his voice lowered to a threatening tone. "Donny, this better be good."_

_ "It is! Shell, it is! No time to explain! We've got to go help Leo and Mikey fight off these random soldiers who broke into our lair!" He yelled, waving his arms around frantically._

_ Raphael shook his head. "WHAT?" He growled. "Nobody breaks into this home, Donny. Let's go kick some shell."_

_ His brother nodded, and they turned to leave, when they heard footsteps approaching the door. Donatello put his bo on the floor and motioned for Raphael to be quiet."In here!" They heard someone shout. Donatello crept behind the door. Then, just as it flew open, he slammed it back as hard as he could. It connected with the soldier's helmet with a crack, and sent him flying backwards into the three others who had followed him up. Raphael tossed his brother his weapon and stomped forwards._

_ He towered over the armed men on the floor who were still trying to understand what had just happened. "Look. I don't have any idea who you guys are, but I hate you already." He raised a sai, and they jumped to their feet. Whirring sounds came from their guns as they got ready to fire. Raphael smirked as Donatello came up beside him, bo at the ready. "Geez, I'm sooo scared," he mocked, "Who the shell are these guys, anywa-"_

_ "RAPH, LOOK OUT!" Donatello yelled suddenly. Raphael spun towards him. _

_ "Wh-" He started, then he went flying forwards as one of the three giant robot suits smacked him from behind, sending him hurdling towards the rail of the second floor. He collided with it straight on, the bar digging into his chest, and ended up bent over it, wheezing as the robot advanced towards him._

_ "Raph!" Donatello yelled. He tried to move to help him, but the number of soldiers between the two turtles was multiplying by the second as more came up the stairs. Raphael pushed himself off the railing, and raised his sais at the robot._

_ "I got this ugly thing, Donny. Go help Leo and Mike." Donatello nodded. Then he turned to the sea of soldiers blocking the stairs. He couldn't see through their tinted helmets, but they all seemed to be staring at him. Their weapons were raised, but it was as if they were giving him the advantage of letting him have the first move. When he raised his staff, their weapons moved to follow his movements. He smiled nervously at them, and took a few steps back. _

_ "Sorry, guys. It's been fun, but.." He took a giant step forwards, and using his bo, he vaulted over them. He landed just close enough to the top stair so that he didn't fall down them, but he had to grab the railing to steady himself. "can't stick around!" he finally finished quickly, before turning and sprinting down the stairs with the soldiers hot on his trail._

_ He reached the bottom, and found the air thick with ammunition of all kinds. Soldiers were running everywhere, destroying all they could get their hands on. Donatello winced as he heard shattering glass, and turned to find their many T.V. sets on the floor in pieces. Suddenly boiling with a new found hatred for the intruders, he turned around and jabbed the front soldier on the stairs in the ribs with his staff. He flew backwards creating a domino effect, and Donatello used the opportunity to run towards the main entrance where he had left his brothers, dodging lasers and soldiers all the way._

_ He was panting as he made it there, having taken down more than just a few armed men on the way. He saw Michelangelo facing one of the giant robots, and he ran over to help him. "Mikey- Oof!" He gasped as a soldier punched him in the plastron. He grabbed the soldier's fist and twisted it behind his back, then gave him a hard kick between the shoulder blades sending him to the floor. He grabbed his gun as it fell from his hands and pointed it at the robot, who once again held his brother dangling by the arm. He pulled the trigger, and a blue laser beam shot out towards the robot. It reflected off its helmet, and bounced back towards the floor. "What? This is the lamest..." He spun around and aimed it at a soldier, but got the same results. Frowning, he threw it on the ground and ran towards the robot. _

_ Michelangelo swung his nunchucks up and they connected with the robot's glass dome, creating a long crack down the middle. Startled, the robot dropped him once again. He waved at his brother. "Think I can take this one, Donny! Find Leo!"_

_ He nodded once again, and ran towards the sound of the slicing of his elder brother's expertly wielded swords. He found him in the kitchen, surrounded by fallen soldiers, just finishing off a few more. "They just keep coming!" He shouted at Donatello. He swung one katana up, disarming another one, and used the hilt of the other to push him away. "Did you get Raph?"_

_ Donatello swung his bo staff and swept three more off their feet. "Yeah, I-" he was cut off by the sound of Michelangelo screaming. The two turtles stared at each other, terror in their eyes. Donatello waved his hand at Leonardo."Keep fighting, I'll go help him!" He yelled, and pushed past the sea of people he didn't know, running to find his brother. 'What a day for Master Splinter to be away', he thought to himself as he rounded the corner._

_ When he got there, he found Michelangelo yet again in the robot's clutches, held in the air by his left arm. "Mikey!" He yelled. His brother gave him a shy wave. _

_ "Little help?"_

_ Donatello raced towards the robot and smacked it with his staff as hard as he could. The robot bent down and swept his hand towards him, but he jumped out of the way and it collided with the ground, becoming embedded in the concrete. Donatello ran up the metal arm, and thrust his bo into the one holding his brother. He pulled it out, and reached his fingers in, grabbing some wires. "I'll have you free in a sec, Mikey!" he shouted as he began to rip out as many wires as he could. _

_ "Sooner than later would be better!" Was his brother's response. He was just about to pull out the last handful, when the robot suddenly got his hand free and pulled it out with great force. The sudden jerk sent it rearing backwards. The man inside was pushing buttons wildly, not wanting it to topple over. Donatello threw his bo to the floor, and jumped off, landing on his shell. He flipped over and jumped to his feet, and found the robot stumbling backwards. It was very heavy, and its operator was having trouble steadying it. _

_ Michelangelo yelled as he was flung in every direction. The robot refused to let him go. It wobbled on one foot, and Donatello raced behind it to try and push it upwards, but he didn't move fast enough. The giant machine crashed onto its back, swinging its arms wildly, and Michelangelo went flying. "MIKEY!" Donatello yelled as he helplessly watched his brother spin through the air. His arm collided with one of the stone support pillars, and his feet flew forwards as he fell straight down onto his shell with a sickening crack. Michelangelo was out cold._

_ Donatello stared at his brother, sprawled out on the floor across the room. He was barely visible, as the air was thick with ammunition, and the lair itself was overflowing with smoke and with soldiers. He stood, horrified for a moment, until finally picking up his weapon. Nothing like this had ever gotten so serious before. Usually when idiots came for their lair, they would be beaten in minutes; this was just too much. This didn't happen. It just didn't. He shook his head and turned towards the man in the robot, who had given up trying to get it upright, and was hurriedly scrambling out of the glass dome. Donatello gave him a quick jab in the gut with his bo staff, and he fell to the floor. He then took off running towards Michelangelo. He checked his pulse, and grimaced when he looked at his arm. Not only did it look broken and disfigured, but it also looked as if the robot's grip had left quite a mark. "Leo!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "Leo! Help! Mikey's down!" He turned around and gave a soldier who thought he was sneaking up behind him a sweep-kick. "LEO!" He yelled a bit louder. He moved to the side as a throwing knife whizzed past his head. He knew he should be helping, but he refused to leave his brother to these weirdos._

_ Then Donatello yelped as he felt a sharp pain in his neck. He brought his hand up to it, and found something there. The first thing he thought of was a throwing knife. Squeezing his eyes shut, he pulled it out, praying he was wrong. He held it in his hands, and opened his eyes. It was some kind of dart, and it was dripping with blue liquid. He squinted and brought it up to his face, trying to find out what it was he had just been injected with, but the dart was becoming blurry. He shook his head and held his other hand up in front of his face, eyes widening in panic when he saw three instead of one. He threw the dart to the side, suddenly not caring what it was. He looked up as he heard someone scream from the second floor, but everything was swirling and becoming very bright. He saw some soldiers come and begin to pull Michelangelo away, but he couldn't seem to get his arms to work to do anything about it. Donatello was barely able to finish one more yell to his brother, before everything faded, and he fell unconscious on the floor._

_**TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT – TMNT**_

__"You're...you're kiddin' me, right?"

"What reason would I have to make up something like that?"

Raphael threw his hands in the air. "You seriously mean that some freak and his army burst into our lair, started accusing us of killin' his family, and then beat the crap outta us? That's all you got?"

"That's all that happened!" Donatello blurted out. "There's nothing else to it! I don't know who he is either, I told you all I know!"

Raphael huffed. "Well if this punk really wanted us dead, why didn't he just kill us? Why are we wherever the shell we are?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"Well you just kinda seem to be the guy who knows it all right now. I don't remember nothin' about any of that."

"Which is weird. Really weird." Donatello tapped his chin. "You know, I have no idea what happened to Leo or you. All I know is that Mikey was pretty banged up. And that's why I was really glad to hear that he's okay."

"Yeah, well I don't remember nothing about any of that."

Donatello blinked. "You just said that."

"Did I really?" Raphael asked.

Donatello shrugged it off. "Anyways... I guess this whole thing could have been much worse. I was pretty scared when I saw Mikey like that... I guess, considering the circumstances, me and you are kind of lucky."

"Lucky! Lucky how?" Raphael demanded.

"Well, since he got so hurt, we're kind of lucky we got away without any damage." He rubbed at his neck. "Well, minimal damage, anyways."

Raphael laughed. "Yeah... real lucky."

Donatello raised an eyebrow. "What was that supposed to-" he gasped, "Raph, are you hurt too?"

Raphael winced. "Yup. Not gonna lie to ya, bro. I tried that with Leo, and he didn't buy it." He could hear his brother scrambling towards him already. "Woah, down boy!"

"What's wrong?" he asked.

Raphael groaned. "I regret this already." His brother huffed at him, and he rolled his eyes, but continued. "It's my feet, Donny. They're all messed up."

Suddenly Donatello slapped his hands over his mouth. "Raph!" He shouted through them, "You fell! You fell all the way from the second story!"

"I what?"

"No, it makes sense! I saw you with the robot, pinned against the railing. Then before I blacked out, I heard someone scream. It was you! You fell all the way! Oh my gosh!"

Raphael thought for a second. "You know, that makes some sorta sense." He winced. "Gee, I'm kinda glad I don't remember that." He rubbed at his legs, but Donatello heard him and pulled his hands away.

"Stop, don't touch them!" He yelled. "Do they hurt?"

Raphael frowned. "They used to, but they went all numb." He jumped as Donatello reached up and pressed his hand on his forehead. "Donny, wha-"

"Raph, you're burning up."

"I am?" He reached up to feel for himself. "Well, whaddaya know..."

"This is really bad, Raph. Your body is using all its energy to try and heal your legs, and since they seem to have gone numb, its not really doing a great job." Now aware of the heat radiating off him, Raphael raised his arm to wipe the sweat out of his eyes.

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you're feverish and seriously injured and we have got to get you out of here. Now."

**...I hate italics. They hurt my eyes. Revieeeeeeew!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's Note:**

**Guys, I know. You don't even have to say anything, because I know. Don't hate me. :$**

"Leo, I can see you! I can finally see you," Michelangelo beamed. The two turtles had reached the leak of light that was coming into the air duct from a crack above them. Leonardo had reached it first, and Michelangelo was more than enthusiastic about having something to look at. "Ahh, how I missed colours," he said dreamily, while Leonardo rolled his eyes, "you're so green. And... and blue!" He stopped, noticing something else, and stared at his brother a bit harder as his eyes were still adjusting to the light. "And purple... and yellow! Shell, Leo! Where'd you get all those bruises?"

Leonardo looked down at himself, and was actually a little surprised. "I don't know, Mikey... I mean we were obviously in a fight, right? So I guess we just weren't on the winning side..." He frowned, but then shook it off and shuffled backwards. "Now your turn. Move into the light so I can see your arm."

"Yeah, yeah, I'm coming." Michelangelo crawled forwards, and instantly cringed at the sound of his brother gasping. He slapped his right hand over his eyes. "What, is it bad? Like, horror movie bad? Like Donny is gonna have to build me a new one and I'll be like a mutant turtle-borg and haunt the dreams of children bad?"

It took all he had for Leonardo to keep his voice calm. "No, Mikey. It's...fine," he cleared his throat, "I'm sure it's fine." He gave it another once over and his breath caught in his throat. His shoulder was sunken down into an unnatural position, and his collar bone jutted out on the left side to a point. The skin all around it was coloured black and purple. Along his arm from the top of his shoulder to his elbow was a long, straight cut that left red stains all the way down his arm.

Michelangelo peeked through his fingers. "You're sure?"

Leonardo bit his lip. Guilt for what he felt he could have prevented was all that he could think of, all that he could feel. His heart plunged into his stomach and he closed his eyes as he whispered, "No, Mikey... I don't think I am..."

Instantly Michelangelo opened his eyes and stared down his injury for the first time himself. His eyes widened, and he looked up towards his brother. "Leo, I don't-" He stopped as dust once again showered into his face from above. He could suddenly see Leonardo as light poured into the vent. The two turtles made eye contact and then slowly looked up to find that the crack in the ceiling was slowly expanding. The metal creaked a warning as a long line crept its way between them, and Leonardo could only think fast enough to jump and push Michelangelo out of the way before the metal of the duct came down on top of him. The second it fell, the floor that it was supporting caved in as well, and planks of wood came tumbling down on top of him as well, leaving a large hole above the two turtles.

A girly scream echoed through the duct as Michelangelo frantically waved his hand around, trying to clear the dust away. "Leo! You okay?" When he could finally see, he squinted in the bright light. Leonardo was sprawled out on his plastron, pinned down by the pile of metal and wood. He coughed a couple of times, but then gave his brother a thumbs up and smiled sheepishly.

"I'm alright."

"Dude, you were just like, crushed!"

"It-it's not really that heavy. Plus I've got a shell." Leonardo tried to get up, but he couldn't even budge. "Just try and help me get it off, and we can get out of here."

"We can?" How?"

Leonardo sighed. "We're in an air duct, remember? And the footsteps we heard above us sounded really close. What I am currently being crushed by," he gestured as best he could to his shell, "was the floor of whatever building is above us. We can climb through the hole we just made and then I guess we can start to find out where we are!"

Michelangelo, instantly curious, shuffled over to the hole and stood up, glad to finally be able to stretch his legs. He spun around one full circle, and then dropped back down to where his brother was impatiently waiting. "Leo! You'll never guess what's up there," he chuckled to himself, and then became serious, "No, I mean seriously dude. You will never guess. Ever."

Leonardo tapped his fingers on the ground. "No, you're right, I probably won't. Now can you please get me out of here so we can _both_ go up there?"

"Oh, okay, sorry." Using his good hand, Michelangelo reached forwards and pulled a piece of wood off of his brother. He looked around, but having nowhere else to put it, he threw it out of the hole above them. He grabbed another piece and did the same thing, working his way through the pile as quickly as he could. Leonardo could feel the weight becoming lighter, but with only one hand working, it was taking a long time. "Aha!" Michelangelo suddenly yelled triumphantly, throwing a particularily large piece of wood out of the duct, "I think I'm halfway done!" Leonardo gave him a less than enthusiastic smile. He opened his mouth to say something, but his brother waved a hand at him and then brought a finger to his lips. Both turtles turned their heads to listen to the sounds coming from above them.

Footsteps could be heard coming into the room, and then they stopped short. "Oy! What in the name of-" Leonardo shut his eyes, instantly taking mental notes. The voice was male, with a very thick Scottish accent. Was this their captor? "The floor's bloody caved in!" The footsteps came closer, and Michelangelo shrank away from the light. Leonardo, however, was still very exposed. "I told that daft Hemlok about this spot when it was just a wee crack. But no. Nobody listens to old-" the voice trailed off, and Leonardo looked up to see a plump man around fifty years of age with flaming red hair staring down at him, pure horror on his face.

The eldest turtle racked his brain for anything he could say to calmly explain what this man was witnessing without making him panic. He cleared his throat and gave his best smile, "Hey there!"

Michelangelo slapped himself in the face as the man instantly erupted into hysterics and began to run out of the room, while Leonardo dropped his head down face first onto the metal, feeling like a complete idiot. "Mikey," he began, but his brother already knew what he was going to say. He sprang up out of the hole and Leonardo listened to the sounds of him grabbing the man and doing his best to quiet him down.

"No, NO! Back off, demon!"

"Dude, I'm not a-"

"AAAAAH!"

"Seriously! Stop that before somebody else comes in here!"

"HELP! SOMEBODY HEEE-" Leonardo winced at what could only be the sound of the man hitting the ground. There were a few more sounds that he couldn't place, and then Michelangelo jumped back down into the hole, breathing hard.

Leonardo stared at him. "What did you do?"

"C'mon, Leo! He was yelling louder than Raph snores! I had to do something!" His brother still looked extremely skeptical, so he added, "I only used pressure points! I didn't like, crack his skull or anything!"

Leonardo nodded, happy with that answer. "Okay. That's good. Where did you put him?"

"Well, actually, we're in a-" Michelangelo stopped instantly as more people could be heard coming down the hallway. He rolled his eyes. "Not again..." he hissed. He reached forwards and began frantically pulling off as much as he could off the pile at a time with one hand.

The footsteps sounded closer.

"Mikey you can't take on more than one at once, you have to get me out!"

"I'm going as fast as I can, Leo!"

Even closer.

"Michelangelo, come on!" Startled by the use of his full name, the younger turtle stopped what he was doing. "What? What are you-" Then he lashed out and grabbed hold of Leonardo's arm and pulled it hard as he could. With a loud grunt, Leonardo came sliding forwards, the remaining rubble falling to the ground. Breathing hard and sweating buckets, Michelangelo wordlessly jumped out of the hole and reached his arm down to help his brother up. Leonardo took it and climbed out.

He spun in a circle, quickly taking in his surroundings. Not that there was much to take in. If he wasn't mistaken, they had found themselves in a public restroom. Leonardo blinked, suddenly very confused, but snapped out of it as Michelangelo grabbed his arm, pulling him into one of the stalls and locking it behind them.

He silently clapped a hand over his own mouth, trying his best not to cry out when he turned around and came face to face with the man he had seen earlier, who was 100% unconscious, and seated on the toilet, lid down. As the footsteps sounded louder, Michelangelo turned to his brother, "Leo," he hissed, "What now? That sound like three guys!"

"I'm thinking..." Michelangelo was fidgeting nervously as the footsteps came closer, but he stopped instantly when Leonardo snapped his fingers. "How's your Scottish accent?" His brother nodded, then stood up on the toilet tank just enough to stick his head above the stall. He cleared his throat.

"Uhh, don't come in here!" he yelled in the best accent he could muster, which to Leonardo's surprise was almost dead on.

The footsteps stopped hesitantly. "Why?" someone called, sounding annoyed.

"Uhh...there's a..there's a wee mess in need o' cleanin', and you likely don't want to get involved!" Michelangelo chewed his fingers as the people just outside the door muttered to each other.

"That you, Billy?" The same person yelled angrily.

Michelangelo's eyes went wide, as he looked down to Leonardo for help. His brother scrambled to turn the man towards him and reached inside his shirt pocket, smiling when he found a name tag. "Billy, uh.. Cowan!" he hissed up at Michelangelo.

"Yep, it's just me, Billy Cowan!" His head darted between the shadows at the entrance of the washroom, and back to his brother for a minute as nobody said anything. Then the shadows grew larger, and Michelangelo began to panic. "STOP! You cannot come in! There's a huge mess!"

Leonardo grimaced. That last 'huge' had come out sounding distinctly Californian. The three men had clearly been thinking the same thing, as they whispered amongst each other, and then came running into the washroom catching Michelangelo completely off guard. He yelped and fell off of the toilet tank, landing on his shell with both his legs sticking out from under the stall door.

Instant hysteria.

Michelangelo groaned over the noise. "Déjà vu ..." Leonardo looked down at his little brother sprawled out on the floor and cradling his arm, and shook his head.

"I guess it's my turn." He leapt off of the toilet tank and over the stall, and Michelangelo could only smirk as the screaming instantly got louder. Some manly men. Maybe they had found themselves in the middle of a weenie convention. He waited patiently, humming to himself and tapping his fingers on his plastron, until the sounds of fighting ceased.

The stall door swung open, and a sweating Leonardo leaned down to help the younger turtle up. They locked the stall door behind them, leaving Billy Cowan seated on the toilet. Michelangelo walked along the row of stalls, leaned over to look under them. "Liked my idea, huh?" He smirked at the sight of four sets of shoes lined up beside each other.

Leonardo rolled his eyes. "I had nowhere else to put them. This buys us more time then someone just coming in here and seeing four guys piled on top of each other." He went to the entrance and peeked around the corner. "Now let's get going, before someone else comes."

Michelangelo came up beside him. "Leo, going where? Does this mean I'm the only one who has no idea where we are?"

"No, I don't either. But first things first. We need to find a way to what's probably the basement in order to break out Don and Raph. Then we can start to piece everything else together."

"Sounds good to me!" The orange clad turtle smiled, "Let's go!"

**I seem to be getting less and less reviews. Is it because I take so long between updates? Aw, whatever. Please review guys, I know this chapter wasn't much, but I promise a more action-packed one real soon. Thanks for staying with me. :)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note:**

**I know Halloween's long gone and all, but... I dressed up as Michelangelo. I painted my entire head green and everything. The kids loved me. **

**...Just thought I'd throw that out there.**

Donatello slammed his fists down on the stone floor. "Ah! I've searched every inch of this place and found absolutely nothing!" He sighed and stood up again, beginning to pace the floor. "Logically, there is another way out of here. Because if Leo and Mikey climbed out of here and went as high as Raph says they did and only found an air duct, we couldn't possibly have come in from above us. Because if we were dropped in at that great of a distance with nothing but this hard stone to catch our fall, shell or no shell, there is no way that we could have possibly-"

"Sherlock, whatever conclusion you've come to, I'm sure you're right. Now shuttup."

Donatello jumped slightly when his brother spoke up. "Raph, I thought I told you to try and get some rest!"

"And I thought I told ya to shuttup."

"Yes, you did. Several times actually." Donatello said, trying desperately to keep calm. "I couldn't help it. I just can't figure out another way out of here!"

"Yeah, well you just keep looking. An' while ya do, I'll just sweat to death."

Donatello whirled around, eyes widening. "Are you seriously _that _warm?" He actually found the room to be quite chilly. He began slowly shuffling over to his brother, being careful not to trip over anything, "Raph, this really isn't good! I'm coming over to check on you, okay?"

He was making his slow trek across the small room when Donatello's head began to swim. Confused, he stopped walking for a second. A wave of nausea washed over him, and his eyelids instantly felt thick and heavy. They drooped down and Donatello suddenly couldn't hold his head up anymore. It fell forwards, but right before he fell along with it, his energy came rushing back and he snapped back up. "Don? What are ya doing?" The turtle lightly shook his head, unsure of what just happened.

"I-I don't know." He blinked a few times and shook his head again, but the feeling that had just passed over him was gone now. Unsure of what to do, Donatello brushed it off and continued his shuffle across the room. "I'm coming, one sec."

He hadn't even taken three steps when the feeling came back again. This time he felt extremely dizzy as well, and he toppled left and right for a moment while waving his arms and trying to steady himself. Once he was finally standing straight again, he slowly brought his hands to his temples, finding them as heavy as his eyelids felt, which had clamped shut and wouldn't open. The touch of his cold fingers to his face seemed to snap his body back once again, and the draining feeling stopped instantly, everything feeling normal again. Raphael began to tap his foot. "Don?" Again, Donatello was at a loss for an explanation, so he shook his head and continued walking, a bit faster this time. He found this time he wasn't that far from his brother, and stopped as soon as he could tell he was about a foot away from him.

"Uhh, you done takin' in the scenery, Don?" Raphael asked, feeling five times as angry and impatient as he usually would be at a time like this due to his fever and his feet, "You said you wanted to check on me, or somethin'."

Donatello nodded, crouching down beside him. "Yeah, sorry. I just-" he was going to say that he had just experienced something really weird, but he figured Raphael already had enough to worry about, and didn't bother, leaving the first half of his sentence just hanging in the air. He extended his hand out to feel his brother's forehead but then stopped, realizing something. "You know, you're probably overheated because of your fever, but I also think it's noticeably warmer on this side of the room..."

Raphael rolled his eyes, "So what?"

"So everything!" Donatello all but shouted. Getting very excited with his new discovery, he stood back up. "Raph I've got it! I think we've finally found our way out of-" He stopped suddenly, his hands going to his head once again, "our way out o-of..." Raphael's head shot up to face his brother's voice.

"...Don?" He heard his footsteps moving back and forth, "DONNY!" Raphael suddenly shouted as his brother fell straight down on top of him. A warm shock went through his entire body at the sudden brutal contact, and adrenaline was instantly coursing through him for the second time in one night. Grunting, he rolled his brother off of him and onto his shell. "Don't you DARE do this to me again, Donno!" He yelled, moving his hands down his brother's face until he found his chest. He found a steady heartbeat, and was the tiniest bit relieved, but still began to try and shake him awake, "DON!" His own heart was racing. He put both hands on his ribs and shook him as hard as he could.

He breathed a huge sigh of relief when he heard a small moan, but then quickly became angry, slamming his fists down in the dirt. "Donatello, you idiot! Could you _pleas_e stop doin' that! Give a turtle a heart attack... Whatsa matter with you?"

Donatello slowly sat up, propping himself up against the wall. He mumbled something incoherent, but then cleared his throat and seemed to try again. "Mmm rph...mk?" His speech was garbled and slurred, yet he sounded like he was really trying to say something.

Raphael blinked, "Uhh..Come again?"

"Ic...cnt..."

Raphael rubbed his eyes and tried as hard as he could to peer through the darkness at his brother. "Don, bro? You're not makin' any sense."

He jumped when he felt Donatello's hand smack him in the face. "R-aph... sp.." He paused, and then coughed a few times. "Heh..hi."

Raphael flicked his hand away and scooted back a little. "You're freakin' me out! Will you just talk proper English?" He could hear his brother breathing in small, irregular pants, he sounded winded.

It took a few seconds, but the turtle managed to get out another word. "...H-hello."

"For shell's sake, HI DON! Now will ya shuttup and tell me what you were goin' to say before you fell on toppa me?!" Raphael waited, but his brother didn't say anything back. His heart started pounding. What if this was real? What if his brother was actually losing it? He shook his head and decided to try again, "Don, can you-" he stopped short, realizing the turtle was completely ignoring him, having found his voice, and had begun talking to himself.

"...I think I...I think I got hit in the head, Sensei. I think... I think this room is spiiiiiinnniiiiiiing..."

Raphael could not believe his ears. He kept on opening his mouth to say something, but he was so stunned he couldn't get his vocal chords to work. His brother, his smartest, genius brother, had just boarded the last train out of sanity and he had absolutely no idea what to do about it.

"And once I made a paper snowflake. Uh-huh. Oh! You thought I didn't notice you, mister bug! Get offa meeeee..."

Raphael shook his head. "Okay. Just...givin' me the creeps." He racked his brain, repeatedly smacking one palm down in the dirt and the other against his head. "Aw, shell!" He whispered to himself. "Four brothers wake up in a stinkin' pit. One fine, one with broken toes or somethin', one with a busted up arm, and the only one who knows anything about any of this was just about to get us outta here and now he's gone completely in... WAIT!" Raphael whirled around to face Donatello. "Don!"

"...s-so dark in this closet..." Donatello rubbed his hands over his face sleepily, "I'm tired."

Raphael rolled his eyes. "Don, shuttup and listen. You got shot with somethin' last night at the lair, remember?"

Donatello nodded, frowning and putting his hands around the spot on his neck. "Uh-huh. It...really hurt. Like that time I fell off the couch except more pointier."

"Ah, okay. Cool. What I'm sayin' is, I think it made ya go nuts." Raphael couldn't be sure he was right, but it was the only thing that made any sense at all. "Who knows what was in that thing? And when people go to the dentist or whatever the stuff they have makes 'em go wacked, right?"

"I think you're right." Donatello said.

Raphael grinned widely. "Good, for a second I thought you were totally-"

"You know what else I think?"

The turtle in red held his breath. "What else?"

"I think we should swim up and find Klunk. It's been getting a little...spinny in here." Raphael smacked himself in the face while Donatello stood up and began to wander around the room, tripping on every single rock and piece of rubble and apologizing to each one every time.

Raphael was practically steaming. "You..." his hands balled into fists and he screwed his eyes shut, "HAVE GONE COMPLETELY INSANE!"

He was just about to attempt to throw a rock at his loopy brother, when he suddenly felt a sort of heat wave come from behind him. Confused, he put the rock down and reached up to feel his burning forehead. "Okay.. Don't think that came from any fever.." He turned towards his brother, now lying on the ground. "Hey Donny, did you feel that?" His brother was babbling to himself again, but he paused briefly to whisper something and Raphael picked out the word 'warm' more than once. "So it's not just me, huh?" He turned around as best he could to face the wall he was leaning on. He placed his hands on the stone and found it warm to the touch. "Whattya know? It _is_ hotter on this side. Huh... Don wouldn't have told me this for nothin'." He paused to consider what he had just said, and meanwhile his brother was singing about echo location in the background. "Ah, okay. Sane Don wouldn't have." He cracked his knuckles one at a time. "He had to be on to somethin' important." He put his hands back on the wall and pushed against it for a minute. He took a quick break to spit on his hands and rub them together, "I'm a ninja. I will not be beaten by a stupid rock." He took a deep breath and then pressed his hands back against the stone, grunting as he pushed as hard as he could.

After what seemed like hours of pushing he could feel himself sliding backwards along the floor since his lame feet weren't providing any grip. He was about to give up when he suddenly felt two hands on his shell. They pushed him back towards the wall and then arms reached around either side of him, stretched out to where his own hands were on the stone, and began pushing. Surprised, Raphael took his hands off of the wall. "Donny?"

Donatello planted his feet down hard as he pushed with all his might against the stubborn rock. "Don't stop now, I think it budged!" he hissed through clenched teeth. Raphael nodded and started again. Now that his brother was behind him with his arms on either side, Raphael could push even harder using Donatello's body as a wall to stop him from sliding. "Put some.. ugh.. muscle into it..!" He was only pushing as hard as he could for about a second before the two brothers suddenly felt the wall fly forwards.

Suddenly leaning full force on nothing, Donatello, who was standing a bit above his brother, went rocketing forwards over his head in what was almost a superman pose, accidentally hooking one of his feet around the back of Raphael's neck, bringing both turtles flying forwards in a heap on the ground. Intense heat and light instantly flooded into the tiny room making them cry out and cover their eyes.

"Don?" Raphael asked with tears streaming from his stinging eyes, clamped tightly shut, "What the shell just happened?"

Donatello was ferociously wiping at his eyes, rubbing away the dust and trying to squint in the bright light. But his efforts were futile since the two turtles might as well have been in a snowstorm. They had lost track of how long they had spent in the dark, and their eyes just couldn't adjust to the sudden ability to see. At least not very quickly. "Well, I don't know about you, but I can't see a thing." When his brother only responded with a sarcastic grunt, he continued, still pawing at his burning eyes. "I'm guessing we found a hidden door. Like I was saying, there had to be a way they got us in here, and when I felt the heat coming from behind you, I knew there was something there." He slowly opened his eyes to a squint, and finding the light not as blinding as it was a minute ago, he began to get up. "I was right! It was a door! I think if I look at the hinges I can figure out- Wah!"

He yelled in surprise as he was grabbed and pulled down to the ground from behind him. Raphael was hanging onto his arm in a death-grip and still had his eyes squeezed shut, tears still streaming from them due to the light. "Sit. There is no stinkin' way you're goin' anywhere until you tell me what you're on."

Donatello tried to shake him off but he wouldn't let go, and gripped a little harder. "What I'm on? Is this a joke? Come on, let's get out of here!"

Raphael shook his arm roughly. "Don't even _pretend _ you don't remember what jus' happened. You were skippin' and singin', and talkin' about Mikey's cat or somethin'! If you were just messing with me I officially hate you."

Frowning, Donatello ripped his arm out of his brother's grip and knelt down in front of him. "Raph.." he said quietly, still managing to startle his still blind brother, "I don't know what you're talking about. I was telling you about the heat coming from behind you and then you started pushing on the wall so I came and helped.."

Raphael opened his eyes, squinting at Donatello. "Tell me you're kidding. It's the tranq, Don! Those wackos musta put something weird in it and it's only affecting you now! I'm telling you, for twenty minutes you were babbling your face off about who knows what!" Donatello looked like he was thinking for a second, and then his face lit up and he put his hand on Raphael's forehead, still burning.

"Maybe this is more serious than I thought. And I thought it was pretty serious." He frowned worriedly while he glanced down at Raphael's four hugely swollen toes. "I think you're getting delirious."

Raphael smacked his hand away. "Don, no! I'm tellin' ya, you went nuts! You gotta believe me so next time you feel funny you can sit down or somethin' an' I don't have to go through that again!"

Donatello said nothing else. He only shook his head, stood up, and poked his head around the door. After a minute he was back, "Just like I thought. The hinges were on the other side, and the handle. It's an ancient stone door that was rebuilt with modern tools so it only opens from one side." He rubbed his hands together and teasingly flexed his biceps. "But nothing's too modern for a ninja to break, huh?" Raphael only glared at him.

Donatello sighed and bent down again. "Raph, don't take it personally, it's not your fault. You're seriously hurt, and-"

"I know what I frikkin' heard my own brother say. And it's not about takin' anything personally. It's about you not getting us killed." Raphael's voice was cold and stern. "Now can we just get the shell outta here?" Silently, Donatello bent down, pulled his older brother onto his back, and walked through the door.

**I know, cruddy ending. But hey, they're moving. **

**Now here's a message for the people who favourite, follow, or even just read my story, and don't review: I see you. **

**Please give me your feedback people. And please no more reviews solely based on how I never update. I've been working on this for a very long time, and the reason I take so long is so the story turns out the way I want it to. Not because I like to keep people in suspense. **

**Thanks! :)**


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